To Love a Stalker
by kaska245
Summary: Maya Ross and her mother have just moved to Forks. They make their home on the border of Forks and La Push. With a little convincing Maya goes to La Push high and it's there that she catches the eye of a certain hotheaded wolf.
1. Chapter 1

Forks is a dreary place, there was no denying that. From the gray skies to the grey people, it was small and at first glance, uninviting. It was totally different from what I knew; the bright sunny skies of California and the youthful energy that permeated through the streets San Francisco. I'm not bitter about mom's choice to move us here. I don't mind the cold and rain. In fact I can't wait until winter, finally I would actually get to see what a white Christmas looks like.

I hummed softly while I watched the trees flash by, we had passed the high school some time ago and since then I hadn't seen anything but houses and flashes of tress.

"How much longer until we get there?" I asked sitting up straight

Mom, who was enjoying the music coming out of the radio, didn't hear me when I asked and instead of answering the question she kept tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. I rolled my eyes and didn't bother to ask again; even if my mom had heard me I would probably get the same response. Mom didn't like it when I asked too many questions, she said that I was too uptight and that I needed to go with the flow more often. But both she and I knew that was impossible, it went against everything in my personality, by nature I am a worrywart.

"Oh! Baby, look we are here!" Mom's sweet voice sounded as we pulled into the drive way of a two-story brown house with a small lawn in the front. When we exited the vehicle I was able to take in the sight of my new home and decided that it was an acceptable place for us to stay at. If it was anything below my standards I definitely would have complained to mom that I didn't like it, or how I didn't feel safe. If I had pulled out the safety card her mom defiantly would have had second thoughts about moving here. And I would be justified in my feelings if I did say that felt unsafe. Thick trees outlined the entrance to the wood that lay just across the street from our new home and it was extremely creepy. But I actually felt happy with our new house. I looked to my mom; her light face was full of happiness. "Isn't it just perfect?" She asked me delighted.

I brushed my dark brown hair out of my face and gave the house another once over before I said, "Yeah, it's nice."

My mother's full lips fell in into a pout and she put her light brown hands on my shoulders, "Come on baby, you have to be a little happy about moving here, otherwise I'll feel bad." She lifted her finger to poke my brown nose but I opened my mouth in an attempt to bite her finger and she snatched it back. She chuckled and said, "I knew you didn't hate it."

I stuck my tongue out at mom who responded in the same fashion. "Well, I don't _hate_ it. It's nice." I stated plainly and I sighed when I heard mom squeal in delight. I rolled my eyes when I saw her run inside, my mom, an adult, was acting like a kid on Christmas.

I followed her inside and didn't bother to check out the downstairs portion of the house. I wanted to choose my room before the movers arrived. When I got upstairs I found that there were three rooms, not including bathrooms. One I knew mom would want to use as her study and so the smallest room would be the most appropriate for that. That left me with two choices the large room in the back or the slightly smaller room in the front. I chose the room at the front part of the house. It hard a large window and a small balcony, perfect for setting a chair outside and enjoying a good book.

"You like this room?"

Mom's voice made me jump and I turned to glare at the woman who was leaning against the wall with her eyebrow raised.

"Yeah I do." I replied. "Why?"

"I knew you would." Mom closed her eyes and smiled, "It's the perfect place for an angsty teenage soul to come and write cheesy romance novels."

I glared harder, "Mom, why are you such a jerk?"

"You should know that it comes with the DNA." She stated smirking at me, "And that with each generation it gets worse. So while I will be a lovable jerk for the rest of my days, I'm afraid, my dear sweet daughter, that you will be an asshole."

"MOM!"

"What?" she shrugged, "It's true. Anyway if this is the room that you want you should come down here and tell the movers that, so we just don't throw your crap all over the place."


	2. Chapter 2

After what seemed like hours of directing the movers to place the furniture in the correct rooms and places mother told me that she was going to get started on dinner. I took that as she really didn't want to be bothered unpacking anymore stuff than she had already. I shook my head, my mother really was lazy. The only thing that we still had left to move was a few boxes and a T.V. from the back of mother's truck. I slipped on my headphones and grabbed my iPod and switched the song to one of my favorite at the moment, _Me & Mr. Jones _by Amy Winehouse

Opening the trunk I groaned mentally when I saw just how many boxes had been stuffed into the back.

'_Okay' _I thought to myself. _'How am I going to do this? Start from the top? But that box looks heavy. From the side, maybe? Ugh, I should have made her come help me'_

With the my music turned up loud and me being lost in my thoughts, I hadn't heard the voice calling to me from behind and I screamed when I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I jumped and turned around slowly only to be staring at the russet brown chest of a very tall man.

"Ohh, S-sorry I didn't mean to scare you." The man stuttered. I stared at him blankly; he wasn't a man at all. He was a boy, a freakishly tall gigantic boy but a boy nonetheless. His dimples gave it away and the way that he rubbed the back of his head gave it away. But I couldn't hear him; my headphones were still on full blast and to make it worse, _Turn It Up_ by T.O.P. was on and the bass on that song was enough to deafen anyone no matter how low the volume was. I winced and pulled the plug from the bottom of the iPod.

"What?" I asked and the boy opened his mouth to repeat himself but he was cut off by my mother's voice.

"Maya! Are you ok?" She screamed from the porch.

"Yeah mom, I'm fine, just startled."

I could see mom sizing up the boy and she smirked before closing the door.

"You were saying?" I started as I turned around to face the boy but I jumped again when I saw two more giant man-boy's. "Uh, Hi?" They grinned and waved back.

"I was saying I was sorry." The boy with the dimples said. "I'm Seth by the way." He stated as he stretched out his arm.

"Maya." I replied as I shook his hand. I winced when he grabbed my hand. His grip was strong and his skin seemed to be on fire. Did he have a fever? If he did he certainly shouldn't be out here without a shirt.

He smiled and said "This is Quil and Embry."

"Nice to meet you." I said politely but on the inside I was really starting to get irritated. Why were they here again? Did they want something? And I swear to God if Quil doesn't stop checking me out I'm going to punch him in the face.

Quil winked as he stretched out his hand, "Quil Ateara. And I'm sure it is nice for you to meet me."

Okay seriously WHAT THE FUCK? "Um, yeah not really." I said raising my eyebrow, "And I'm defiantly not going to shake your hand because I'm pretty sure you've been using it to play with yourself, especially if those are the lines that you use to hit on girls."

Seth and Embry laughed as Quil quickly took his arm back. Embry smiled and shook his head at the stupidity of his friend and held his hand out for me to shake as well. "Embry Call, and its nice to meet you. You'll have to forgive him. I would say that he isn't normally such and idiot but then I wouldn't want you to think I'm a liar." I raised an eyebrow when I shook his hand; he was like Seth, on fire. Is that the temperature you get after being here so long? Or did they have some sort of disease that just made them extremely huge and hot, hot in both senses of the word.

I smirked, "It's cool, I understand that some idiots just can't control their urges." We laughed again and Quil rolled his eyes.

"Har Har, you guys are so funny."

Seth laughed, "Hey Maya is that your mom?"

I looked to where he was facing. My mother was peaking through the drapes with a pair of binoculars. '_What the hell? Is Everyone crazy or is it just me.' _ I felt my eye twitch before Seth caught my attention again.

"Anyway, we came over to see if you wanted some help." He started, "It looked like you were having some trouble."

I blinked, "Uh yeah sure. Help would be greatly appreciated." I rolled my eyes thinking about my mother, "And besides if I don't bring you in I'll never hear the end of it."

"Cool."

I watched as they set to work on the trunk. Seth and Embry grabbed four boxes each like they weighed nothing, which I knew was impossible simply because of the fact that they were my moms and she tends to stuff as many things in boxes as possible. And I watched in even more amazement as Quil picked up my mothers plasma over his shoulder, which I am sure, is not the proper carrying protocol for a delicate machine such as that, and yawn as he brought it in the house.

'_Okay, weird freakishly huge hot guys who have fevers but choose to ignore them and show off their strength in front of random girls, not bad for the first day'_

Grabbing a lamp from the front seat I locked the truck before heading inside. I stopped and turned around to the forest and saw the sun setting behind the tress. We really had been at this all day.

Xxx

Mom invited Seth, Embry, and Quil to stay for dinner. I didn't know if that was such a good idea. I mean sure they were nice guys, but they were also strangers; strangers who popped out of nowhere, in groups of three, desperate to help innocent girls when they first move in. And not to mention the fact that they were huge beyond belief. I mean really, what if they were murderers? Mom and I wouldn't even stand a chance. I mean sure, Seth seems like he couldn't hurt a fly, but the jury on Quil and Embry. I mean Quil is clearly a pervert and as for Embry, well it's always the quiet ones who go on murderous rampages.

"So Maya, where are you going to school?"

I looked up when I heard my name being called. I saw the boys looking at me intently and my mom looking at me with a smirk on her face. '_Shit, what did he just say?'_ Mom's smirk got even wider when she read the look on my face. Damn her, she knew I wasn't paying attention, so she probably asked them to start talking to me.

"Sorry, what?" I asked looking at a Seth. He was most likely the person who asked me the question. "I was zoned out."

He chuckled, "You did look a little blank in the face. I asked where you were going to school."

I blinked, "There's more than one school? We only saw Forks High on the way here."

Quil snorted, "Forks high is for the regular old run-of-the-mill pale faces. But the best place to go to school is on the reservation. As a bonus it even comes with the best people that you will ever meet." He gestured to himself, Embry and Seth. "And our friends aren't so bad either."

'_Palefaces? Like Palefaces and Redskins? Heh Heh thank you history class and all the racist connotations that came from characteristics that personified the differences between different ethnicities of people... God! Why am I such a nerd?'_

Embry seemed to notice that I was starting to zone out, and I think that he thought that I was debating about where I wanted to go. "Look at it this way Maya, even though you live on the border it would be some much easier for you to come to school on the rez. And it would be easier for you to adjust because you would already have three friends."

All three of the boys grinned cheerily and my mom started to laugh.

'_Since when were we friends?'_

I rolled my eyes, "I guess you guys are right, it would be easier. I guess that's where I'm going to school then."

Happiness filled each of their faces and I was given high fives and pats on the back, hard parts on the back.

Xxx

I was getting ready for bed. My bedroom wasn't the way that I wanted it yet but I would have to fix that some other time, probably this weekend. Mom is supposed to take me to register for school tomorrow and I'm kind of nervous. Even if I do have friends already, there won't be any guarantees that I will be able to have classes with any of them.

A knock on the door broke me from my thoughts.

"Come in." I called, and watched as my mom made her way into my room. She had a plate of cookies and what appeared to be a mug of delicious hot chocolate in her hands. She set them on the night stand next to my bed and picked up one of the cookies before sitting down.

"So..." She started, "They were cute."

"Yes. Yes they were."

"But you don't like anyone of them."

"No. No I don't."

"Gawwwddd Maya lower your standards a bit. Did you not see how attractive those boys were?" She said shaking her head like she was ashamed. "Even Quil, pervert though he may be."

I rolled my eyes, "Good night mom."

With her full lips in a pout she grabbed another cookie and bowed mockingly, "Goodnight my dear. I know that you will miss my lively presence but for now I must bid you, Adieu."

When my door closed I shook my head and I laid back on the bed.

'_Tomorrow will be calmer, right?_


	3. Chapter 3

The high school on the reservation was just like any other high school except it was nestled in forest. And the kids where just like any other kids. When mom pulled her truck in the parking lot we instantly noticed a difference in the way our car looked and the way all of the other cars were. Most were old and some were even down right crappy. I suppose rolling up in an Escalade is a little much, especially when it's not even my first day here.

We got stares as we walked through the crowd to get to the main office. I took this time to examine the population of the student body. And I quickly guessed that it was ninety-nine percent Native. Now this wouldn't bother me, but I don't really have a thing for sticking out and unless there is like a secret hove of non-natives hiding in the corner that I can blend in with then I'm pretty much screwed. Curse those boys for being so convincing.

When we got to the front office I let my mind wonder away as my mom talked to the administrator. I sat there for about ten minutes before I decided that I couldn't sit still any longer. I tapped my mother on her shoulder and told her that I was going to go explore.

My journey took me to the cafeteria where there were few students, and that was probably because class had started for them and the few who were in here didn't really care about getting to class on time. I didn't really pay attention to the students as I looked around the cafeteria.

"Maya! Over here!"

I jumped when I heard my name and I turned to where the other students were. I saw Seth waving his hand at me, and I shyly waved back. He started to wave me over but I shook my head and made up hand gestures that were supposed to point to the direction I thought the main office was in. Instead of understanding my crazy hand gestures he got up and lightly jogged to where I was and smiled.

"Are you starting already?" He asked with a smile, and I couldn't help but smile back, he was just so cute.

"No, my mom is getting me registered so I just figured I'd go explore."

He nodded his head and said, "That's cool. Why don't you come over and meet my friends?" He gestured to the students behind him; I glanced at them and felt my eyes go wide. Where all boys here insanely huge? I picked out Quil and Emby's, faces but the rest were foreign. One thing I did notice though is that they all had the same hair cut. And I guessed that they would all have the same body temperature as Seth. Weird? Were they part of some type of cult?

"Um okay. I guess it couldn't hurt."

Seth smiled and pulled me towards the table and I instantly regretted my decision. They were even bigger than Seth and some of them didn't look nearly as friendly.

"Hey Maya." Quil said and Embry waved at me in acknowledgement.

"Hi," I said quietly. Why was I so nervous? This wasn't me. But under the scrutiny of so many eyes I guess it was normal to feel a little nervous.

"Well, I'm Jacob." I looked to one of the biggest boys there as he stretched out his arm. He wore a big smile on his face and I felt a little better.

"Maya, nice to meet you."

"This is Jared and Paul." He motioned to the other two boys. Jared smiled as big as he could but it wasn't a lot because of the food that he had in his mouth. I relaxed a bit and smiled back, for some reason I felt like he was one of the silly ones in the group, sort of like Quil. I moved my gaze back to Paul and I felt myself tense up all over again. His eyes were intense and his face hard like he was concentrating on something. And at first I looked away from his eyes and focused on the space between him and Jared, but I mustered up my courage and looked into his eyes again. When I met them this time they were different, like he realized something and I watched as his eyes widened a little. He didn't smile and he really didn't make any facial expression and he was really starting freak me out. I suppose there is a weird one in every group.

"Uh, nice to meet you?" When I said it sounded more like a question and he started to blink a little like he had been knocked out of a trance. Yeah, he was the strange one.

"Uh, yeah, likewise." His voice sounded a little strained and I'm really debating with myself rather or not I want to be friends with this creeper.

All of a sudden Jared started cracking up like he was just remembering an inside joke. "You okay there, Paul?" He said through chuckles. And I started to wonder what was so funny about your friend being a weirdo.

Paul _growled _in response before hitting Jared in the shoulder. _'WTF! Now he's making animal noises and nobody seems to care.' _I looked to the others to see if they could say something to resolve this awkward conversation but they had cheesy grins on their faces and I felt my stomach drop. '_Okay, definitely think I made a mistake by coming here. Everyone is straight crazy!'_

Luckily for me my phone started to vibrate and I checked it to see that I got a text from my mom saying that everything was all taken care of and that it was time to go.

"Um.." I started awkwardly, "I've got to go now. So yeah…"

"Already?" Seth asked.

"Yeah my mom's got my registration and stuff all taken care of and she is ready to go home."

"Do you want someone to walk you back to the office?" He asked.

"No, I'm good. I'm pretty sure that I can figure it out." I smiled at him. "Thanks for the offer though." I faced the group, "It was nice meeting you guys." I turned around trying to and started to walk away as quickly as possible and I could hear them saying bye. I just know this is going to be a mistake. If I hang around them they are going to get me to join some type of weird cult.

When I got to the front office mom was waiting there impatiently with her foot taping. "Hey!" I called to her.

"Ugh finally! You took forever, where were you?" She asked as we started walking.

"I ran into Seth in the cafeteria."

"Oh, the cutie with the dimples right?"

"Mom! Stop being a pervert!"

"Sorry, I can't help myself dear. Cute boys let me though that there is still good in this world." She sighed dreamily as she opened the door to the car.

I rolled my eyes, "Can't you focus your energy on something else?"

She stuck her tongue out at me, "Anyway, did you make anymore friends?"

I shuddered thinking about the new people that I met, "I met some other people if that's what you asking, but I would hardly call them friends, more like unfortunate acquaintances."

"Why?" she asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Well at first they didn't seem too bad but then this guy, Paul, would not stop staring. It was so creepy. It was like he was trying to make lasers come out of his eyes to destroy me or something."

"Weird," she started. "Maybe he though you're cute and he has made it his job to stalk you and stare you down until you agree to become his love slave."

I stared at her, "Seriously mom, what the hell?"

"What?" She shrugged, "I saw it on T.V. It was one of those Lifetime movies. The guy was all, '_I knew I had to have her from the first time I saw her.'_ And the girl was like '_One time when I came home, I caught him in my room sniffing my panties and then when I said I was going to call the police he flew out the window like he was Batman.'_"

I raised an eyebrow, "I'm pretty sure that what you're describing is a dream. A sick perverted dream." I stared out the window and watched as the trees passed by quickly. Then all of a sudden Paul's face came to my mind and I saw his chocolate brown eyes pop into my mind again. "Actually, he wasn't that bad looking."

Suddenly that car came to an immediate stop and I hit my head on the dashboard. "Ow! Mom, what the hell?"

She looked at me and water started to pool to her eyes, "My baby, you like someone! I'm so happy. You're growing up!" She wiped fake tears from her eyes as she started to drive again. "But you do have some weird taste in men. I mean really out of all the boys you pick the stalker."

"I never said I liked him! And I don't know if he's a stalker or not! He's just weird jeez." I rolled my eyes again as I look back out of the window. "And he's not the first boy I thought was cute."

The brakes were slammed on again.

"SERIOUSLY! Why didn't you tell me?"

'_Why, oh why did I open my big mouth?'_


	4. Chapter 4

I started school that next Monday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And I was pretty much ignored like hoped. I was so glad that I wasn't the only non-native here. I had most of my classes with two of the other three. The first was a strawberry blonde girl named Zoe and like me she was a junior. She was very sweet and was one of the first to greet me when I entered English, my first period class, in the morning. We were fast friends. She told me that her brother, Zane, also went here but he was a year older than us and the only time that we would probably see him was during lunch.

My second period was Spanish and that was a mix of juniors and seniors. Luckily I found the window seat, a perfect place to zone out when class got ridiculously boring. Though, it seemed that my good luck was canceled out by some force in the universe that just couldn't let me have an amazing first day of school. Not, five minutes after I had sat down I heard a choking sound from the front of the classroom. When I looked to the front of the classroom I mentally groaned as I saw the creeper known as Paul standing there frozen. Unlike last time though, my reaction wasn't one of being totally freaked out. Instead my eyes seemed to focus on the tight black shirt that he wore. You could almost see the outlines of all his muscles and I felt my throat get thick and my cheeks flush.

In an effort to get my mind off of his well-developed chest I moved my eyes back up to his face, which now he wore a smirk on. This could only mean one things, he totally caught me checking him out just now. In embarrassment, my mind quickly tried to come up with ways that I could evolve Pokémon style into some sort of turtle like creature. When all possibilities failed I just slammed my head on the desk. Yeah an overreaction, but I was panicking.

I lifted my head from my desk and rubbed the sore spot on my forehead and pouted a slightly_. 'Okay, maybe that wasn't a good idea.'_

A chuckle caused me to look out the corner of my eye and I scowled when I saw Paul sitting there, laughing at me.

"That's not funny." I mumbled under breath.

He smirked, "It was to me."

I stuck my tongue out at him but quickly put it back in my mouth when he said, "Don't bring that out unless you're going to use it."

I felt my cheeks burn and I eyed him even more. He was obviously a flirt. '_What a gross combination. A flirty creeper. Eww._' I shuddered mentally at that thought.

When the bell finally rung for class to start I turned in my seat to face the front and tried to ignore him for the rest of class, but that was hard to do because I could _feel _his eyes on me. I was really starting to hope that I didn't have any other classes with him, but with my luck I'm probably not going to get that wish granted anytime soon.

"So how do you like living here so far?" I heard him ask and I felt my eye twitch.

'Really? He picks now of all times to get to know me.' I shushed him and tried to focus on the board.

Apparently he didn't seem to understand the shush and so he started to ask more questions. "Where did you move here from? Did you like there more than you do here?"

Before I could respond to his question I saw the teacher throw a look in our direction and I groaned on the inside, I really didn't want to get in trouble on my first day here, that was like setting yourself up for failure.

I turned to Paul and I whispered as quietly as I could to him, "Listen, it looks like teach is going to give us detention or something if you don't shut up. So why don't we talk after class?"

That seemed to appease him and he shut up quickly and I was able to focus on the class again.

Xxx

When class was through I tried to make my way as quickly as possible to my locker to switch out my books and head for my next class and to avoid Paul, even though I said I would talk to him I hadn't really planned on giving him the chance to start a conversation with me. I quickly realized my attempt failed when I heard his deep voice calling my name from behind me and no matter how fast I walked I couldn't seem to get away from him. I guess it was his longs legs that gave him the advantage, curse him for being huge.

He smiled when he got to my side and I nearly rolled my eyes but found that I couldn't when I realized how attractive his smile actually was.

"Do you want me to carry your books for you?" That was the first question he asked me and I found it kind of weird. Why would he want to carry the books of a girl that he barely even knows? I know I wouldn't.

"No, I'm fine," I responded and I found myself holding my books even tighter to my chest. He didn't immediately respond after that and I wanted to keep it that way but he eventually started asking questions again when we reached my locker.

"You know you don't have to rush to class right? We have a ten minute break."

'_Yeah I know, and it was one that I was planning on spending away from you.' _ I thought sort of bitterly as I bit my tongue to keep me from saying anything rude. "Uh yeah, I know." I said as I put my book Spanish book in my locker and grabbed my Chem book in exchange. "But I kind of like to be prompt, you know? I don't want to make a bad impression on my first day." I finished as I closed my locker and turned around to face him.

"I don't think you'd be capable of making a bad impression." He said seriously as he looked me deep in my eyes. I felt my cheeks flush and I tilted my head to the ground not wanting to look into those chocolate eyes of his.

'_Oh man, I wasn't expecting to hear that. And it wasn't even that great of a complement either but I can feel my heart beating fast'_

I swallowed thickly and looked up at him to thank him for the compliment but I was cut off by a sultry voice.

"Hey Paul." The owner of this voice was a tall girl who had long dark brown, almost black hair, which reached her mid-back. She wore a smirk on her face as her dark eyes looked over the man-boy in front of me. Her smirk seemed to grow even wider when she looked at me and I felt immediately uncomfortable under her gaze.

I looked at Paul in hopes that he would be excited when he saw the russet skinned beauty and go away with her and leave me to my peace and quiet, but I got no indication that he intended to pay any attention to the girl.

"Oh, hey Yvone." He said quickly as his eyes flashed over to hers for the briefest of seconds before he turned his gaze back to me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw pouty lips drop into a frown but quickly returned to a smirk before for she walked over and slipped her hand inside of his pocket. She tried to stand on the tips of her toes to reach his ear but even with her height she barely got over his shoulder before she not so quietly whispered, "My new number in case you're interested." She pulled back and winked at him before she walked away but not before she cast another scowl at me.

"Your girlfriend?" I questioned as I cocked my eyebrow.

"No!" He said quickly as he pulled the number out of his pocket, balled it up, and threw it on the ground.

"Seemed like it." I said as I started to make my way to the chem lab.

"Well she's not!" He said forcefully. "And you're going the wrong way." That part he said with a smirk, I could hear it in his voice.

I felt my cheeks flush and I turned around quickly and started to make my way in the correct direction.

"Do you want me to walk with you?" He questioned as he followed close behind me.

"No," I said as I turned to look back at him with a smile. "It's all right, why don't you go to class."

He stopped walking and smiled a heart stopping grin and I felt my cheeks burn. "All right." He said as he turned around and walked away.

I turned my head and shook my head as I let my smile fall from my face. I really hoped things would be a little less Paul oriented as my day went on.


	5. Chapter 5

So far I hadn't seen Paul and I was glad about that and I was able to make more friends. I supposed things weren't going to be as bad as I thought they were. I was really lucky with that the next few classes that I had before lunch. It turns out that I have Seth and Zoe with me for Chemistry. I was relieved that it was a class of all juniors because it limited the possibilities that Paul would be able to awkwardly appear in class and sit there and stare at me again. I was able to pick Zoe as my lab partner but Seth got with some scrawny kid that zoned out every five seconds. For fourth period I had government and I had that with both Embry and Quil since it was a mixed class of both juniors and seniors. Fifth period for me was photography, which I adored and I didn't have it with anyone I knew, which was kind of a relief. I love being around friends, but I couldn't stand the thought of being around them all day every day for the next two years of my life.

That brings me up to lunch. The cafeteria was full and there was so much talking and laughter I could barely hear my own thoughts. I got to the lunch line and looked to see if there was anything appetizing but settled for a plate full of fries. It might not be the healthiest option but I'd rather take that than a bowl full of gray looking beef stew.

It took me forever to find Zoe, but I finally found her strawberry blonde head bobbing up and down excitedly as she spoke animatedly to the boy that sat next to her.

"Hey." I breathed when I finally reached the table that sat next to one of the windows of the cafeteria.

"Hey, yourself." She said smiling showing her pearly whites her bright green eyes still showing excitement for the conversation that she was having with the boy. "So, how was class?"

"It was good, I got some really good shots of a squirrel, which I have decided to name Carlos." I said as I sat down letting by bag slip from my shoulders so I could put it on the bench next to me.

"Carlos?" She questioned.

"The name seemed appropriate at the time, and it was the first one to pop into my head." I said as I shrugged.

She laughed and the boy next her chuckled as well. I smiled as I looked at him. He was very cute. He had the same bright green eyes as Zoe but her had short brown hair and instead of her reddish blonde color. He had a dimple in his left cheek and he wore a smirk on his slightly full lips.

"Oh, yeah Maya, this is my brother Zane. Zane, this is Maya." She said as she stopped laughing.

"Nice to meet you." I said as I shot him a smile. He returned it before a look of recognition popped up on his face.

"You must be the new girl that Yvone was talking about." He said as he picked up an apple from his plate.

"Yvone?" I questioned trying to remember if I had met and Yvone recently. Then I remembered the beauty in the hallway thins morning, with Paul. "Oh, you mean that tall pretty girl? Why was she talking about me?"

"Dunno." He said as he took a bite. I started to munch on my fries as well and I saw that Zoe had started to eat he sandwich. "She said something along the lines of 'Some new girl was trying to get at Paul, but as soon as I walked up his attention was all on me. Hah, you should have seen the look on her face. It'll take more than some big tits to get Paul.' But, really I'm just paraphrasing." He finished with a smirk. I smirked back, '_Paraphrasing my ass._'

The topic of Yvone talking about me was one that bothered me. I really wasn't looking to making any enemies. My original plan was just to sail by high school life and make a few friends. Leave my experimenting for college, like normal people. Seems like I already have trouble though, and I'm not even the cause of it. Paul is. I shook my head in frustration, I barely know the boy and he's already causing me so many problems. And why was she looking at my boobs anyway? Were they popping out of my shirt? Or worse, did I have I giant stain on it and no one told me? I looked down and gave myself the all clear before sighing in relief.

"Were you talking to Paul or something, Maya?" I heard Zoe ask and I pulled myself from my thoughts and brought my attention back to the conversation.

"Uh, yeah this morning why?" I asked.

"What were you talking about?" Zane questioned.

"Nothing really, he was just asking why I wanted to get to class so early even though we had a break. No big deal." I said as I popped another fry into my mouth.

"You must be his new target." Zoe said with slight smirk.

"Target?"

"Yeah, everyone knows that Paul will sleep with anything that has boobs and half a brain so he doesn't have to tell them what to do in bed." Zane said as he finished off his apple. "And new girls like you, are his favorite toys to play with."

"Why?" I questioned dumbly.

"Because he likes to…how should I put this?" Zoe asked herself and paused. "'_Break Them In'_ So to speak?"

"Eww."

"Yeah,eww." Zane said as he pulled a water bottle from his bag and took a swig. "It's like a game to him. Not only that, he likes to take peoples GIRLFRIENDStoo. And then when people go and confront him, he likes to start fights with them and get them suspended from the FUCKING BASKETBALL TEAM!" By the time he was done talking Zane was a little red in the face and Zoe had her hand on his back soothing him.

"Um, sorry?" I said awkwardly as I watched him cool down a bit. Zoe gave me a sad smile.

"Don't worry about it much, Maya. He's over it really but I guess sometimes we all can get a little angry you know?" She turned her head to her brother and made sure he was okay before fully facing me again. "Just try and stay away from him, okay? He's got this crazy bad temper not to mention the fact that he's a total man-whore. He's just not a good person to be around."

I nodded in thanks for the advice and then I kind of checked myself out of the rest of the conversation. For the rest of lunch I half-heartedly listened to the different jokes and conversations that they brought up. When the bell for class rung, I left before Zoe and Zane did because I had to get to my trig class which I found out was on the other side of the school completely.

I stopped by locker to pick up my book before getting to class. When I closed my locker I saw the tight black shirt of a certain man-boy standing there in front of me. I looked up at him and frowned. Seeing my frown, Pauls' smile was quickly replaced with a frown of his own.

I walked quickly down the hall, and once again Paul was right on my tail, using his long legs as an advantage to catch up to me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He questioned worriedly.

"Nothing." I replied curtly as I opened the door to my class room and to my displeasure he followed me. Not many people were here yet and I saw prime real estate in the back right next to a window. I darted to the back and quickly sat down, and to even more of my displeasure Paul sat right in front of me.

He didn't say anything as I pulled my calculator and pencils out of my backpack and sat them on my desk. When I was finished preparing for class I rested my cheek on my palm and looked outside avoiding all possible eye contact with him.

"Did something happen?" He asked almost timidly. And I almost looked at him, what could have caused this change in character from the confident person that I talked to this morning or the arrogant asshole that was described to me at lunch.

"Nothing." I mumbled in to my hand. He was quiet as the bell rung but he was still facing me. I looked at him from the corner of my eye and I almost gasped. The intensity of his coffee colored eyes was amazing.

"Did someone hurt you?" He asked almost growling.

I opened up my mouth with the intentions of answering him with some kind of smart-ass retort but I was cut off by the teacher's voice.

"Mr. Lahote!" She almost screamed at him. "Why are you in my classroom?" She questioned him as she crossed her arms over her chest letting her thin framed glasses come to rest on her nose. By the way that she was glaring at him I knew that if she was paler it would have been impossible not to see the red making its way up her neck. Even now, with her russet skin, you could see the red hue rising slowly up her neck. "This is the fifth time that you've done this! You are definitely getting detention this time and don't even think about trying to worm your way out of this one!"

All this time Paul had not stopped looking at me and the intensity in his eyes had not waned either, but I did see his fist start to clench. Probably from all the yelling, but who in their right mind wouldn't get made if their teacher was yelling at you in front of the whole class?

"I think that you should go now, Paul." I said softly. I watched and he nodded slowly as he got up. He cast one last look at me before walking up to the front of the class room and snatching the pink slip from the teacher. He shut the door behind him and I felt myself finally relax. I tensed up again when she glared at me and I heard the kids start to murmur around me gossiping about what had just taken place.

'_Damn! This class is going to be long.'_


	6. Chapter 6

After Trig flew by it was time for the seventh and last period of the day, study hall. I was so excited to have that last, perfect opportunity to sleep after a hectic first day. Study hall was in the library which wasn't too far away from the math department so I didn't rush but I made sure that I got there on time. When I walked in I saw there was a sign-in sheet for student who had a study hall. Looking for my name I came across the all too familiar name of Paul Lahote and saw that he was in my period. I looked around but didn't see him anywhere in sight. I shrugged it off and went ahead and put a check next to my name showing that u was here.

I found a good spot in the fiction section all the way in the back and slightly in a corner. It had a nice sized black couch and was close to an outlet. I smiled to myself for being able to get the perfect seating. It was the perfect place to plug in my laptop and get started on some homework if I ever felt like it. Today though, I would just try and relax.

I put my back pack on the seat next to me and sat down before pulling my phone out and seeing that my mother had sent me text.

'Hey baby! I know you're at school right now but I probably won't be able to get you until around five. Maybe you could get someone to drive you home? If you do txt me, k? Luv you .'

I groaned, I really needed to get a car. '_Maybe I could catch a ride home with Zoe_?' I text her but got no response. I didn't worry about it; I would probably see her afterschool in the parking lot anyway. Closing my eyes I leaned my head back at let myself fall asleep.

Xxx

Apparently my little nap turned into a big snooze fest because I didn't hear the bell ring and at around 3:30 the librarian came and woke me up. Realizing that Zoe and Zane had probably already left I ran into the parking lot to see there was only two cars left. There were still a few students here but they were all walking home. I groaned out loud and leaned on the side of the school building and let myself slide onto one of the benches.

'Guess I'm sitting here til five'

I sat down and pulled out my phone with the intention of playing a few games but I saw that I had less than half of my battery life left so I decided against it. I would need that incase I got kidnapped or something.

I let out a huff before I relaxed and watched the remaining of the students walk home.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

I looked up and saw Paul standing there looking at me skeptically.

"Nothing, much really." I said with a forced smile. "Just waiting for my mom."

He walked around me and came to sit on the bench beside me. He looked at me for a moment before he asked, "Well, when is she coming? It's not safe for you to be outside by yourself."

"Dunno." I said as I shrugged and leaned back against the wall but I didn't take my eyes off of him. It was almost like I couldn't not watch him. "She says that she'll be here at certain times but she never shows up on time. She said that she would be here at five but I'm sure that it's more like six."

"You can't stay here for that long." He said sternly. "Why don't you let me take you home?"

I looked at him skeptically. Did I really want him to know where I lived? Did I want to sit here to six?

"If it it's not too much trouble on your part." I said giving him a chance to opt out.

"It's no trouble at all." He said with a smile, he really did have a nice smile.

"Okay."

I followed him to a tan colored truck. It was worn down but it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the others that I had seen. When he started the truck he didn't put on any music so we sat in silence, a severely awkward silence. I guess I could partially to blame for that, I didn't even make an attempt to talk to him, I just stared out the window the whole time.

"So.." He started. "How do you like La Push so far?"

"Didn't you ask me that already?" I said. It came off rude but I didn't intend on it sounding that way. But it looked like I didn't matter to him anyway.

He shrugged and said, "You didn't answer."

"It's all right." I said as I sat up straight, my back was starting to get stiff from slouching. "I haven't seen anything really spectacular and it's a little bit too quiet for my taste but I'm sure it'll grow on me."

"Where are you from?"

"I was born in LA but when I was younger, mom moved us up to San Francisco. It was work related I think."

"That's cool." He said. It was silent for a good five minutes after that. I didn't really want to talk to him because of what Zoe had said, but I figured you can't listen to what people say and not try to get to know a person.

"So, I'm sorry that you got in trouble." I started awkwardly.

"Huh?" He questioned. "No that wasn't your fault it was mine. She was just mad because I've come in and interrupted her class loads of times."

"When?" I asked.

"Like, uh never mind. She just doesn't like me okay." He said trying to end that particular part of the conversation.

"Like when you were flirting with Yvone?" I asked absentmindedly. I heard his breath hitch a little like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar but I don't know why he was acting like that. It wasn't like it mattered to me if he was flirting with her.

"Well, I mean- tha-that's not what happened." He said sort of stuttering and I had to raise my eyebrow at that one. Paul didn't seem like he was the stuttering type. I'm mean, sure when I first met him he seemed kind of weird but maybe he was just having an off day. We all have those once in a while. From what I had seen and from what Zoe and Zane were telling me Paul seemed like he would be the epitome of confidence. And he would certainly have to be to get a girl like Yvone to pay attention to him for more than just two seconds.

"It's all right I'm just kidding. There's no need to get your panties in a bunch." I said trying to get him to calm down. "I was just asking about her because it seems like she really likes you."

"Why do you say that?" He asked as he pulled the car to a stop. I noticed that we were in front of my house. It was strange how I hadn't noticed that we were almost there.

"Zane said-." I started but was cut off by Paul.

"Zane! You were talking to that asshole!" He spat looking at me with fire in his eyes. "Don't listen to him he's a fucking liar, okay?"

But I didn't answer his question, I just stared at him. I had never seen him angry before, but then again I barley new him but it looked like what Zane and Zoe were telling me was true though. It looked like he had an insane temper.

"Don't hang around that piece of shit anymore, okay?" He said looking at me seriously.

"That's the same thing they said about you!" I snapped back. "And don't talk badly about my friends, it looks like they were more right about you then you are about him. And who are you to boss me around? I don't even know you!"

"You don't know him either!" He shouted back as I got out of the car, slamming the door as I did so.

"We'll I sure as hell know him a lot better than I do you, so please do me a favor and fuck off. Thank you for the ride but I don't think that I'll need one ever again!" I ignored his screaming for me to come back and went inside and slammed the door.

I waited for a minute, listening for the screech of his tires to show that he had pulled off and when I heard them I breathed out a sigh relief. I put my bag down on the couch and pulled my phone out of my pocket texting my mom and telling her that I wouldn't need her to pick me up.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and then sat on the couch and turned on the T.V. I shouldn't have yelled at Paul. It was rude and uncalled for, but I didn't like the fact that he was talking about Zane like that. It was true that I didn't know Zane or Zoe very well but from what I could tell they weren't bad people. Besides, I liked to think that I knew them better than I know Paul and that they _were_ the type of people that I actually _wanted_ to know. The only thing that I could gather about Paul was that he was a playboy with anger management issues. And now that I think about it he is also a confirmed stalker. Otherwise, how would he have known the way to my house? I hadn't told him where I lived and we didn't discuss it on the way here, he just knew.

Xxx

A while later Mom walked through the door. She had a shopping bad on her arm and she had a large smile plastered on her face.

"Hey baby." She said as she practically skipped to me and placed a kiss on my forehead.

"Hey." I said looking at her skeptically. "What's got you so excited?"

"I went into town today and I met the most handsome doctor." She said putting her bags down. "But," she said as her full lips fell into a pout, "He's married so that's a no go."

"And you're happy about this why?"

"Because in order to relieve my heartache, I went shopping!" She said with a large smile on her face. "And I bought you the cutest dress and a purse to go with it.."

I smiled as she rambled on and on, but I wasn't really in the mood for her peppiness. "I'm sorry mom, I don't mean to cut you off and I'm grateful that you bought me these things but I'm really not in the mood right now. Do you think maybe I could try the stuff on and talk some more tomorrow?"

I watched her bright brown eyes dim a bit before she forced a smile back on her lips. "Okay, I know your first day was probably stressful. We'll talk in the morning?" She asked hopefully.

"Of course mom." I said with a smile and I watched as her light brown face lit up with another real smile.

"Good night then."

"Good Night."


	7. Chapter 7

The next day I didn't see Paul. In fact the whole rest of the week I didn't see Paul. It wasn't like it was a bad thing, I as actually relieved that I didn't have to deal with him or his anger problems. I did feel a little bad and I wanted to apologize to him for the way that I spoke to him, but it wasn't something that was nagging at me.

Through the week I got closer to Zoe and Zane. A little closer to Zane than Zoe, and I was excited about that. We were supposed to go on a date to the movies, and I was super excited about that part. I didn't know if I was more excited about actually going on a date or the fact that I was going on the date with Zane.

It was Monday again and I was on my way to chemistry class. Today Seth was walking with me and I was happy about that. Seth was a really sweet person. Even though I had been rude to Paul it seemed like it didn't faze him in the slightest.

"Hey, a bunch of us are going to the beach on Friday. Did you want to come?" Seth asked smiling, his dimples showing.

I frowned slightly, "About what time? I'm supposed to meet someone at the theater in town at around eight so I won't be able to go if it is too late."

"It shouldn't be too late." He said with a smile. "We were going right after school, and we would probably leave early since it gets too cold for some of the girls."

"Girls?" I questioned.

"Yeah, girls." He said with a smile as he opened the classroom door for me. I thanked him before he headed over to his seat and I headed over to mine where Zoe was waiting for me.

She looked a bit down, but I didn't question her about it. I learned that if I wanted to find out what was wrong with her it was best to get her talking first then ask later.

"Excited for class to start?" I asked sarcastically as I sat down in the seat next to her.

"Can't say I'm thrilled about it." She mumbled while twirling a pencil in her hand. "But can't change the fact that we've got to learn chemistry for some reason, right?"

"Right you are." I said taking out my book. "So how was your weekend?"

"Do you like my brother?" She asked looking at me seriously.

"Um, yeah he's cool." I said awkwardly trying to figure out why she was asking me this. "Why?"

"Did you know that Paul Lahote came to our house last Monday and tried to pick a fight with my brother?" She asked, her face was void of all emotion.

"He did what!" I said loudly causing some of the other students to look at us but I didn't pay any attention to them.

"He came to our house and started pushing him around." She said just as seriously but her face seemed too relaxed when I showed that I was just as outraged as she was.

"Why didn't you tell me when we got to school the next day?"

"I wanted to, but Zane told me not to tell you." She said as she put her pencil down. "I think that he really likes you. And I think because you said that you were talking to Paul that he thought you guys might have been friends."

"Me and Paul friends? Ha not even close." I said quietly because the teacher had just walked in. "In fact I told him not to bother me again last week, so I don't think friendship is going to happen."

"Really?" She said looking a little surprised.

"Yeah, so I don't think that he'll be bothering us anymore."

She smiled and we both started to pay attention to the teacher.

Xxx

The rest of the day was a pretty normal day the only things out of place were that both Paul and Zane were out of school. I didn't so much care that Paul wasn't there so much I thought it was strange that you could take a week off of school and no one seemed to care. I heard from Zoe that Seth and a lot of his friends had taken some time off last year, so I guess this was something that the school really didn't care about.

Zoe also told me that the reason that Zane wasn't at school was because their dad was taking him down to Seattle to look at some schools. When I asked why didn't she go she said it was because that she wanted to travel the world when she was done with school and then she wanted to become an artist. Her father didn't agree with her plans, he said that there was no certainty in that future. Zoe's mom on the other hand, supported her no matter what. I had met her mother last Friday and she seemed like a sweet woman. She was tall and had long flowing brown hair and green eyes like Zoe and Zane.

Zoe had been taking me home every day since last Tuesday so I never had a need to call my mom and tell her when I was coming home. Today I stopped by Zoe's for a while before she dropped me off. As we were pulling up I saw an old familiar truck in my drive way and a saw a familiar large frame leaning against it.

"Is that Paul?" Zoe asked squinting her eyes as the car came to a stop.

"Yeah, I think it is." I mumbled back.

"I thought you said you guys weren't friends?"

"Remember I told you about him being a stalker."

"Well, yeah but I thought you were over exaggerating I didn't think that you really meant it." She said, her nose scrunching up. "I would have never thought he was so creepy."

I started to grab my things and get out of the car.

"Do you want me to come with you?" She said looking at me worriedly.

"No." I said with a smile and closing her door. "I should be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah I'm fine go home and relax or something." I said still smiling.

She gave me a skeptical look, "All right, but if you don't text me in twenty I'm calling the police."

I chuckled, "I'll be fine Zoe."

She shook her head and finally drove off. As I watched her car disappear I let the smile fall from my lips. I turned to the man-boy who was now looking eager as I made my approach. Why was he so weird?

"Why are you in my drive way?" I asked him as I walked up the first few stair of my porch. I sat down. I figured he had something to say and we would probably end up having to talk about it. He came to stand in front of me and looked me in the eyes. I couldn't read the emotions on his face but his eyes were intense enough to make me gasp.

"I didn't mean to say bad stuff about your friend." He said simply.

"Then why did you say it?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's just say that he and I don't get along that well."

"Yeah, I heard about that." I said rolling my eyes.

"He told you what he did?"

"What he did? He told me what you did." I said scowling at him. "How you stole his girlfriend and got him kicked off the team."

"What!"

"And I also know that you went to his house after I told you to leave me alone on Monday."

His eyes went a little wide. "You know about that?"

"Yeah, I do." I said glaring at him. "Why would you do that?"

"Well I wanted him to leave you alone. He's not a good guy." He said seriously and I saw his fists start to clench.

"Well that is not the way you tell someone your feelings. You don't just go around screaming and having a tantrum because they don't do what you want them to." I spat at him, and he seemed to look angrier at himself than at anyone else at the moment. "Besides, your little stunt didn't work anyway."

"What are you talking about?" He questioned

"Nothing, never mind." I mumbled, looking away from him. I didn't want to tell him about the date with Zane it would start another pointless argument and this whole talking thing that we are doing wouldn't have a point to it if we're just going to get mad at each other anyway.

I jumped when I felt a warm hand on my cheek. He turned my face so I would look at him. He was kneeling in front of me now and I could feel my heart beating and I was certain that he could too. When did he get so close to me and since when had he been so attractive?

I studied him now, even though it probably was not the most appropriate time to do so. He had a strong jaw line and his deep chocolate eyes made me want to melt. I knew my face was warm but I doubt he could have felt it because he was hot just like Seth and Embry were.

I noticed him move to sit next to me so that he was beside me instead. I almost let out a groan of protest when I felt his hand leave my face but I held back.

"What do you mean?" He asked again, this time it was more gentle than before, almost like he was trying to coax it out of me.

"You'll get mad." I said softly. Wait, why am I talking like this? Who cares if he gets mad? He's the one with the anger issues and he's the one that can't control himself. Just because he's attractive didn't mean that I had to go soft, almost submissive. Besides, it wasn't like I liked him. He was still weird.

"I won't." He started and I scoffed. He glared softly at me and I chuckled a bit. I saw him smile when I laughed.

"You have a nice smile." I said looking at him completely and it was then that I realized that he hadn't had his shirt on the whole time. I felt myself blush and I moved my eyes back up to his face, but it seemed that it was too late and he had already seen me staring at him.

He smirked but didn't say anything about the fact that I had been staring at him.

"A thank you would be nice." I said scowling at him a bit.

"A thank you for what?" He said still smirking, "For checking me out? I don't think that is how it works."

I felt my face heat up like it was on fire and he could tell that I was at a loss for words and he started to chuckle.

"Thanks, you have a nice one too." He said still smiling.

"Thanks." I mumbled. I needed to change the subject quickly. "How come you weren't at school?"

He cast his eyes off to the side and his laughing stopped and so did his ever present smirk. He seemed almost a little…shy?

"I didn't think that you would want to see me." He said not meeting my eyes.

I furrowed my brow a bit. "What does that have to do with you going to school?"

"Well you said that you didn't want to see me again and so I thought that if I went to school I would have been bothering you, so instead I just didn't show up." He said seriously.

I was at a loss for words. Was he serious? He took something that I said in the heat of the moment and actually thought that I was serious? And what should it matter if I get bothered by him going to school or not? My education doesn't depend on him and is education shouldn't depend on me.

"What were you thinking?" I questioned.

"Well, I didn't want to see you more upset than you already were so I thought that it would make you happy."

I rolled me eyes, clearly question him about his state of mind was not going to do the trick. "So you thought showing up at my home, which by the way I have never given you directions to and I'm starting to think that you really are a stalker, was a better idea?"

"I wanted to see you and I didn't want you to be mad at me anymore." He said seriously.

I shook my head, "I'm not mad, just a bit weirded out."

He smiled again, "I'm glad. I don't know if I could take another week away again."

"Yeah I know. Imagine all of the homework that you're going to have to make up."

"That's not what I meant." He said shaking his head.

"What did you mean?"

He started to open his mouth but stopped and I saw him squint his eyes as he looked off a ways.

"Who is that?"

I looked in the direction that he was facing and saw my mom's black escalade speeding down the road.

'_Shit'_


	8. Chapter 8

"Would you like some more Paul?" My mother questioned the giant body sitting next to me at the table.

"Yes, please." He said politely.

I watched as my mother scooped some more macaroni onto his plate and he scarfed it down as soon as she pulled her hand back.

"So how old are you Paul?" Mom asked as she ran her eyes over her him. She caught my eye and I glared at her hard. '_Pervert_.' She winked back at me as though she knew what I had said in my mind.

"Eighteen." He said not stopping himself from eating.

"You go to school on the reservation too?" She asked.

I rolled my, eyes, there was an obvious answer to that question, but I think she just wanted to keep him here. I saw it in her eyes when she pulled the truck in the driveway. Apparently she had been out grocery shopping and was coming home and wanted to make me a big steak dinner for completing my first week of school and her successful set up of her stay at home business. When she saw Paul I swear I saw time stop in her mind.

Paul volunteered to get the bags out of the truck and she did not refuse. After he was done she offered him some of the steak as a reward and here we are.

"Yes mam." He said swallowing the last piece of his **second **steak.

"And you know Seth, Quil, and Embry?" She questioned as she took a sip of water from her glass.

"Yes, we all work for my boss, Sam." He said with a slight smirk. It must have been something of inside joke because I could have sworn that I saw what looked like and amused look pass over his face. "We do security for the reservation."

"You all have jobs. That's no fun. You guys are young and should be enjoying life." She said almost pouting. "I remember when my mom made me get a job, worst thing ever. I even had to work on Christmas can you believe that?"

He smiled, "It's not that bad and it is nice to be able to work with my friends."

I was completely checking out of this conversation. It wasn't that I didn't want to know about what Paul did, hell I found it cool that he had a job and actually enjoyed it. However, I didn't want to be here, at the dinner table talking, with my mom checking him out every time he breathed. It was more awkwardness then I was prepared for, especially since I wasn't involved in the conversation.

"I'm going to wash dishes." I said standing up and picking up my plate but it was taken from my hands by a large warm one.

"I'll help you." Paul said looking at me with a smile.

"That's okay you guys can finish talking."

Mom didn't seem to like that I was brushing him off and decided to take into her own hands.

"No thanks, dear." She said with a smile, a fake yawn made its way passed her lips and she moved her hand to cover mouth. "I'm actually pretty tired. I think I am going to go upstairs."

"All right." I said with a sigh and Paul and I finished clearing the table. He followed me to the kitchen. I looked at him as he put the dishes into the sink.

"You don't have to help me you know?" I said turning on the water. "I'm sure that you have other places to be right now. You and mom were talking about your job earlier; you don't want to be late for that."

He shook his head. "No it's fine I'll stay and help you. I did make a mess too."

"Suit yourself." I said with a shrug.

When we were finished I walked Paul out to the porch. I closed the door behind me and started walking with him to the stairs.

"You're coming to school tomorrow right?" I asked almost hopefully. I don't know why, but I had the nagging feeling that I didn't want him to leave right now.

"Yeah, I will be." He said looking at me in the eye again and I felt my heart skip a beat. It was just something about his eyes. They weren't any out of the ordinary color, but his chocolate eyes seemed better than the rest. I didn't know if it was the intensity or just the fact that he would look at me in the eye every time he talked to me. I liked that.

"You won't leave for a week again, right?" I asked. Why does it sound like I'm begging?

"You missed me?" He questioned looking a bit surprised. I don't know, did I miss him? The whole time that he was away it seemed like I was glad he was gone, like I couldn't be bothered by it. Sure I wanted to see him so I could apologize, something that I still haven't done, but I didn't miss him. Now though, it feels like I've missed him the whole time, like I couldn't wait to see him.

"I guess." I said looking away. I wasn't sure enough of my feelings to give him a straight forward answer.

Suddenly I was pulled into a warm embrace and I heard a squeal come from the house. He smelt so good, like wood with his own scent mixed in, it's hard to describe how good he smelt. And he was so warm I couldn't help but to wrap my arms around him. When I did, it seemed like his arms got tighter and I sighed in contentment.

"I missed you too." He said softly, but I could feel the vibrations of his deep voice through his whole body. I didn't respond I just kept hugging him, and I didn't know why, but it felt right.

"Don't go away again." I said softly. And that made him squeeze even tighter, almost to the point where I felt like I couldn't breathe but it didn't matter, I was so happy and warm.

"I won't I promise." He said and pulled back. He smiled and I smiled back. "I have to go, okay?"

I nodded my head and watched as he started to walk to his truck. "Oh wait!" I said waving him back over. "Give me your phone."

He looked confused and tossed it to me. I punched my number in and called myself. I waited until I felt it vibrating in my pocket then I hung up and gave it back to him.

"My number." I said looking away from him. I looked at him for a moment and saw that his eyes went wide for a second, before he a smile came back to his face. I couldn't help but smile back as he gave me another hug.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said and pulled back I nodded and watched as he went to his truck. I waited until I saw him pull off before going back inside the house.

When I opened the door I was immediately assaulted with a large hug.

"Good work, Honey!" My mom screamed moving us both in a back and forth motion. "Why didn't you tell me about him? Did you see those abs! Jesus and here I thought you were just going to be a prude for the rest of your life. But we have got to work on your flirting." She started to ramble as we both walked back into the house.

"I did tell you about him mom." I said sitting on the couch and pulling out my phone and saving Paul's number. "That is stalker Paul."

She stopped her rambling. "That is the boy you were talking about?" I nodded my head. "But he's so hot. Aren't stalkers usually weird men with like three strands of greasy hair?"

"I wouldn't know, I haven't had much experience with stalkers, mom."

"Honey, if I was your age I would let that boy stalk me anywhere he wanted to."

"Why are you so weird?" I mumbled. "Besides, you're not that much older than me right? You could get someone that young if you wanted too."

"Now now, we mustn't discuss mother's age. That's inappropriate. Besides," She said walking up the stairs, "None of these young boys would know how to handle me!"

"MOM!"

"Good Night Baby!"

Xxx

"You did what!" Zoe practically screamed at me as we walked towards English the next day. "How did you go from 'I don't give a crap about Paul' to 'Hey, I just gave Paul my number, great right?' In a matter of hours!"

"I don't know." I confessed pathetically. "I was sitting there when we first started talking and I was ready to be Ms. Pissed Off Bitch, but we started talking and he touched my face and all of a sudden…I don't know okay!"

"Jeez what did he do buy you a pony or something?" She hissed and stormed inside the class room as I held the door open for her. "What about Zane? Have you forgotten about that? How he stole his girlfriend? How he tried to pick a fight with my brother or about how you have date with him on Friday?"

I sighed as I sat down in my seat and looked at her as she sat across from me. She was glaring at me deeply and her eyes looked more pissed off than anything. "Okay first off, whatever happened between Zane and Paul is between Zane and Paul, that's got nothing to do with me. It seems like they hated each other a long time before I got here. I'm sorry that he tried to pick a fight with Zane but he has a bit of a temper we all know that."

"YOU'RE DEFENDING HIM!" She screamed causing the whole class to look at us.

"Shh!" I said trying to quiet her. "No I'm not defending him, I'm just telling you something that we all know."

"Humph." She said still glaring.

"Secondly, just because I gave Paul my number doesn't mean that I'm cancelling my date with Zane, or that I have any sort of romantic feelings for Paul. I just gave him my number, that's it and that's all. There was no feeling behind it." I said trying to justify my actions.

"Then why did you give him your number?" She snapped back. "You didn't even give Zane your number, he got it from me."

"Well.." I said but then I looked down. I didn't know how to answer that question.

"Did he ask you for it?"

"No." I said guiltily.

"So you just gave some random boy your number, one that you say that you have no feelings for, even though he didn't ask for it." She hissed.

"Yes." I said feeling even guiltier.

"Ugh, I'm not talking to you." She said facing forward.

"I didn't mean to hurt you." I said looking at her sadly.

She looked at me from the corner of her eye. "I'm not hurt, just confused." She said softly.

"About what?" I asked.

"I don't know how to be supportive of you about having the courage to give Paul your number but still going out on a date with my brother."

"Like I said, just because I did that doesn't mean that I have feelings for him." I said looking at her seriously. "I still, like Zane."

She sighed but didn't say anything.

"Besides," I said looking at her seriously, "I have only been here a week. It's not like I know anyone well enough to be talking about having feelings for them."

She sighed again. "You're right. I'm sorry I overreacted. I guess it's just the history that we have with him just put me a little on edge."

"It's not a big deal, I understand."

She smiled and I smiled back. I sighed and relaxed and started to pay attention to the teacher.


	9. Chapter 9

I was excited for second period and I think that Zoe could tell. Toward the end of first period I kept looking at the clock and waiting for the bell to ring. I wanted to see him. I didn't know why, and I didn't know why I felt that way all of a sudden.

When the bell rung I leapt out of my seat and back down the hall to my locker. Before I closed it I sighed. I was being ridiculous. I didn't even like him, did I? It was those eyes that got me that was the only explanation that I could think of. I was a sucker for eyes.

"Hey." A deep voice called.

I shut my locker and looked up into the bright green eyes of Zane. My smile almost dropped from my face. "Oh hey." I said.

He raised an eyebrow, "You say that like you were expecting someone else."

"Uh, no I just have a lot on my mind is all."

He took my books from my hands and started walking me to class.

"You know that you don't have to walk me right?" I said a bit nervously. I didn't want Paul to see us together, that would ruin the good atmosphere that we created last night and I didn't want to see that ruined so easily because of mine and Zane's friendship.

"It's fine." Bringing his full lips into a smile and letting his dimple show. It was a nice smile but nothing that made me blush the way that Paul's did.

"Thanks, I guess." I said.

When we got to the class room door I sighed internally with relief but tensed when I saw that Paul was leaning on one of the lockers next to the door. He smiled when he saw me but the smile quickly turned to a dark glare and I felt my heart skip a beat with worry.

We stopped in front of the door and I didn't look to see Paul's gaze, I just took my books from Zane and went to go into class. When I went to go inside I felt a hand grab my arm and I looked it to see Zane's pale hand.

"See you Friday right?" He said with a smirk.

"Uh, yeah sure." I mumble trying to take my arm back but he wouldn't let go, not until Paul took his hand and forced Zane's from my arm.

"Don't touch her again!" He growled.

Zane smirked but didn't say anything and that seemed to get Paul even angrier, so much so that he started shake. I didn't know what that meant but I mean it couldn't have been good right? People channel their anger in different ways and this must have been Paul's.

"Paul we should go we're going to be late for class." I said softly as I put my hand on his shoulder. He seemed to calm down and his shaking stopped but he kept his glare firm on Zane who started to walk away. I grabbed his arm and started to pull him into the class room and he followed without much resistance.

When we got to our seats I could feel his eyes on me and it made me feel uncomfortable.

"What?" I asked quietly. Class hadn't started yet but I didn't want people to hear our conversation.

"What did he mean that he would see you Friday?" He nearly growled. "I thought you were coming with us, to the beach."

"I am," I started hesitantly, "But before I found out about the beach I agreed to go on a date with Zane." I finished looking down.

I flinched when I heard a snapping sound. I looked up with wide eyes and saw that Paul had broken the top part of his desk in half and was shaking violently.

"You can't go!" He said snarling. By this time the other conversations had died down and it was obvious that the other students were listening to us.

"Who are you to tell me who I can and can't go out on a date with?" I nearly shouted. "And you need to calm down; you're starting to freak me out with all that weird shaking!" His eyes met mine for a moment and I could see him taking deep breaths like he was trying to calm himself down.

"That's better." I said with a slight smile. He didn't smile back but he did seem a lot calmer. "Now I know that you don't think that Zane is a good guy, but he hasn't been anything but nice to me."

Paul didn't say anything as he picked his desk up and switched with one from the back of the class.

"I don't think that switching is going to keep the teacher from seeing it."

He shrugged and sat back down and didn't say anything. In fact he didn't talk to me the rest of class; I just kept feeling his eyes on me. He didn't walk me to my locker or to my next class. I was scared that he was mad at me like I was mad at him that last Monday, and I really didn't want to have to wait a week until I felt that it was safe enough to go and talk to him. Paul is just really confusing.

Xxx

Lunch was probably one of the most frustrating periods for me. Zoe wasn't here at lunch today because she had some sort of the meeting for the painting club, so it was just Zane and I. I tried to sit away from Zane as far as I possibly could without it seemingly like I was trying to avoid him, but he kept moving closer and closer to me. Another thing that didn't help was that I could feel Paul and his eyes on me.

Every time I looked up I saw him and his chocolate eyes staring at me. I felt like he was going to burn a hole straight threw me. To make matters worse, instead of me being angry about the fact that he was staring, I could feel myself flushing when we made eye contact.

I felt bad because I was paying more attention to the angry man-boy siting across the room from me than to the boy sitting next to me.

"Your boyfriend looking over here again?" I heard Zane ask almost bitterly.

"He's not my boyfriend." I said hesitantly taking my eyes off of Paul and moving them to Zane. I heard the screech of a chair and quickly flashed my eyes back to Paul's who looked a little further away than he did last time and I knew that he had been the one to move his chair.

He had a smug look on his face, probably because I had reacted so quickly when I thought it was him who might leave.

"Yeah right, and that's why you haven't been able to take your eyes off of him the entire time." He snapped.

"I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude. It's just that I-"

The screeching of the chair caught my attention again and this time Paul really did leave and I felt myself want to follow him. I started to stand up but a tight grip caught my wrist and pulled me down hard.

"Ow!" I said wincing.

"Where do you think you're going, I'm talking to you?" He snapped at me angrily. I really didn't care what he had to say and I roughly pulled my hand away from and smacked him.

"Who do you think you are?" I shouted. I watched as he face paled and he noticed that eyes started to pay attention to us.

"Maya, calm down please." He said sternly.

"Seriously, who the FUCK do you think you are?" I said shouting.

It seemed he did not like to be yelled at because I saw his face turn red and he stood up and I had to crane my neck a bit to keep eye level with him.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Seth and his friends slowly standing up.

"Shut up!" He said screaming back at me.

"Hah, shut up is that really the best thing that you can say back!" I said smirking back at him. "I've heard better comebacks from a three year old. Stop trying to save face and come at me with what you really want to say and don't be a baby about it!"

"What do you want me to say huh?" He questioned angrily. "I'm trying to talk to you about our date Friday but you can't seem to keep your fucking eye off of fucking Paul. Has he Fucked you already? Fucking slut."

I was stunned to hear that truly I was. Normally when people are stunned they have the tendency to be stuck. No reaction at all, you know the whole stare out into open space thing. But that isn't what happened here.

Apparently I broke Zane's nose. And I really don't remember that, but what I do remember was being carried out of the cafeteria by Seth while I screamed and flailed about wildly. So now I'm sitting in the principal's office and he's making a call to my mother about me causing a disturbance, but calling home wouldn't do any good. I knew for a fact that she was out today.

After what seemed hours of talking to the principal he finally told me that I had detention for the next week and a half and I groaned mentally. Before now I had never had detention before, I mean sure I've gotten into fights, but never on school grounds.

I let the day wiz by me and then made my way to the history class room for detention. That was a waste of thirty minutes. There was only me and three other students there but it was a good time to get some homework done.

When I got to the parking lot I sighed and sat down on one of the benches outside of the school. I took out my phone and got ready to text Zoe and ask if she would be able to give me a ride but quickly dropped that idea. She wouldn't want to talk to me, especially after what I did to her brother. I knew we would all have to talk again sometime and that I would have to apologize to Zane but I didn't want to think about that now.

I looked through the phone book and saw the name that gave me hope, Paul.

I called him and waited a bit before he answered the phone.

"Maya?" he questioned.

"Uh, hi." I said nervously.

"What's wrong?" He questioned sounding a bit worried.

"I was just wondering if you could give me a ride home, I mean I know you're probably busy but-"

"No it's fine I'll come get you. You're at school right?"

"Yeah..." I said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

"Thanks, Bye."

"Bye."

I sat for no longer than ten minutes be for Paul pulled up in his truck. He got out of the car and opened the door for me and helped me in. I smiled in thanks and watched as he closed the door and hurried to his side before we pulled off.

We sat there in silence for about five minutes before he asked, "Did you want to come over to Emily's?"

"Who's that?" I said looking at him.

"She is Sam's wife. She is really nice and she's a great cook too I'm sure that you'll love her." He almost sounded pleading.

I thought about it. I really didn't want to go home right now. I didn't want to be alone and forced to think about the things I did. Then mom would be home and grill me about the principal calling her and the fight. Hanging out might be nice.

"Sure, that sounds fun actually." I said with a smile. "I'll need some more friends any way since I just ruined two relationships."

"What are you talking about?" He said looking at me.

I looked at him skeptically, "I'm sure one of the others told you about the fight that I got into with Zane."

"You got into a what!" He shouted looking at me.

'_Okay maybe they didn't.'_

"Are you okay?" He questioned worriedly running his eyes up and down my form.

"I'm fine Zane isn't." I mumble.

"What happened?" He questioned sternly.

"Nothing, we just had a little disagreement."

"About?"

"You." I said quietly.

He was quiet for a moment and I wondered if he was going to let me drop the subject. While it was true that the fight wasn't specifically about him, he had been the underlying problem. Zane was jealous because he couldn't make a little girl do what he wanted her to do and because of it he got hit.

"What happened?" He asked again.

I sighed and said, "Zane asked me I you had fucked me already and if that is why I wasn't paying attention to him. Then he called me a slut and after from what, the principal said, I proceeded to hit him, _hard_."

I don't think that Paul heard past the part when Zane called me a slut because he started shaking.

"He did what!" He growled. I grabbed his hand and that seemed to soothe him some, he stopped shaking and was breathing just a little hard, but I could tell he was still pissed.

"It's fine. It's taken care of already." I said softly as I ran my thumb over his large warm hand. He didn't say anything else, I think because he was still angry and I didn't want to force him to talk if he still was.

The silence wasn't awkward it was comfortable, and I was happy holding his hand.

We pulled up in front of a warm looking cabin type house and I went to undo my seat belt but Paul stopped me when he said, "One thing about Emily, don't stare okay? Sam doesn't like it when you stare."

I nodded my head and opened the door and Paul helped me down. He grabbed my bag and used his other hand to take my hand and he led me up the step. Before he could open the door we were greeted by a beautiful woman who opened the door for us.

"Hey, Paul."


	10. Chapter 10

The woman was a little taller than I was with copper skin and long shiny black hair. She had gentle brown eyes and a gentle smile on her face to go with it. I couldn't help but notice the three long scars that ran along the right side of her face. They went all of the way down to her mouth and her top lip to turn up slightly. Usually, like most people I would stare at her scars, but there was something about her that kept me from seeing them even though they were already there, like her beauty just made them irrelevant.

"Who is this?" She asked curiously as she looked at me. I felt my face flush from the attention and wanted to step back but Paul used his hand to push me forward so he could introduce me.

"This is Maya." He said with a smile.

I saw her eyes flicker with recognition and he smile seemed to get even bigger.

"So _this _is Maya." She moved away from the door and let us inside.

I followed Paul into the house and stood against a wall while he put my bag next to one of the couches and flopped down onto it.

"I'm Emily." The woman said smiling at me with an outstretched hand pointed my way. I took it and shook it with a smile.

I watched as she made her way to the kitchen.

"Where is everyone else?" Paul called as he flipped through the channels.

"Sam took them out patrolling." She called back.

He didn't say anything in response but I knew he didn't have to. Patrolling was something security guards did.

"Why are you still standing?" Paul questioned looking at me strangely.

"I don't know." I said feeling my face heat up, but Paul just smiled and patted the seat next to him. I sat down and took the time to really look around the house.

It wasn't anything special, no different from any other house, but it was very homey. I felt myself relax a little and I got comfortable on the couch. Then the most delicious smell hit my nose.

"What is that?" I asked looking for the source of the delicious smell. Paul didn't get a chance to answer because I looked around and saw that the dining room table and saw a plate full of giant muffins.

"Emily cooks for us all the time." Paul said with a shrug as he got up and headed towards the table. Emily must have had some kind of psychic powers because as soon as Paul's hand reached out to grab one of the muffins a spoon came and whacked him on the hand, _hard_. I winced at the contact but it didn't seem to faze Paul in the slightest.

"What?" He asked.

"Wait until the others get back." She said looking at him sternly. "I want to make sure that everyone gets at least one."

"It's not for me it for Maya."

"Oh, well give her one."

"That's what I was doing." He said rolling his eyes.

"It wouldn't be so bad if you guys didn't eat everything in sight." Emily said with a roll of her eyes as well and she started to go back into the kitchen.

"Can't help it." He called to her as he came to sit next to me. "Here." He said as he handed me the muffin with a smile and I said thank you.

"Did you want some?" I asked starting to tear it in half.

"No, you go ahead and eat it. I'm sure you're hungry." He said looking at me seriously. "From what you told me it didn't sound like you ate lunch."

I frowned; I really didn't want to think about what happened today. I'm not really a violent person but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let people walk all over me. Since Zane was the one with the broken nose the way that the principal made it sound, it was like I just assaulted him for no reason. I was sure I was going to get an earful when I got home.

"Yeah, I am." I said quietly and tore a piece of the muffin of before putting it in my mouth.

"How much trouble do you think you're going to be in?" Paul questioned.

"I'm probably in more trouble with the school than my mom." I said after I swallowed. "When I go home she's probably going to be mad and yell at me the way a normal parent does."

"Why does it sound like something else is going to happen?" He asked again worriedly.

"Don't worry it's not a big deal." I said shrugging. "We won't talk to each other for the rest of the night. Then in the morning she going to cook me breakfast, which consist of cereal and bacon, because that's the only thing that she'll feel like making. Then we'll be in a huge awkward silence before she starts apologizing for yelling at me. I'll say I'm sorry for getting in trouble. Then she'll let me explain what happen. Then depending on what she hears I'll get my '_punishment_'"

Paul looked at me weirdly.

"What? That's how we resolve things." I said with a shrug as I popped another piece of the muffin in my mouth. "It works every time and no one is too mad at anyone for a very long period of time."

"I guess. But still." Paul shook his head a little, "What about your friend, Zoe?"

I felt my stomach drop a bit. I had tried not to think about her. I knew that we probably weren't going to be friends anymore, which really sucked because I really did enjoy hanging out with her. The problem was that she blew up at me because I was talking to Paul and that didn't even affect her. I would not know how she would handle me punching her brother even if he was being a complete ass.

"I don't know." I said dejectedly

Paul took one of my hands and his thumb to rub the back of it. "It'll be ok."

I smiled sadly but didn't say anything in return; I really didn't want to talk about it anymore. Luckily for me a distraction came crashing in through the door, six giant distractions; four of them I knew the other two not so much.

The shorter one of the boy's eyes lit up when he saw me.

"Maya!" He said with excitement and he ran over to hug me. I heard Paul growl but I didn't pay any attention to it. I figured that it was just something about him that I would have to get used to.

"Hi Seth." I said smiling back at him when he let me go. I looked to the others and waved and most of them smiled in return except for the two I didn't know.

One was a tall man, with short cropped hair like the others but he was older. He had a stern look on his face but you could tell he was kind just very serious. The other was a girl and she was just as tall as the boys. Her hair wasn't cropped but it was in bob. She was pretty but she didn't smile and when I smiled at her it seemed like her frown only deepened.

"And who is this?" The tall guy's voice rumbled from his chest. I almost jumped from the sound of it. It wasn't that his voice was the deepest that I had ever heard but the sheer authority that came from the tone of his voice took me by surprise.

Paul leapt up from his seat and said, "Sam this is Maya." His smile was larger than I had seen before and I found it a little strange. Apparently I wasn't the only one who that it was weird because the unnamed frowning girl in the corner seemed to stare strangely at him before rolling her eyes and casting her eyes to her hands.

"This is _her?_" The tall man questioned and I was a little offended. The way he was saying it was like he thought he expected something else, but I didn't say anything. I was still freaked out by their freakishly large size. "From what you told me I didn't think that you would be able to get her over here so soon." The tall man continued. And now I felt a little bad for assuming that he was going to say something bad about me but I'm glad that I'm not a more brash person otherwise I would have made a complete ass out of myself.

"I'm Sam." He said as he stretched out a large hand. I took it and almost winced at the grip but I could tell that he was restraining himself a lot. "And that is Leah." He said motioning to the girl who had scowl on her face.

"It's nice to meet you guys." I said with a polite smile as I began to feel a bit more comfortable. Sam smiled back at me before walking into the direction of the kitchen. I figured from what Paul told me about staring at Emily's face that Sam was Emily's boyfriend or some sort of spousal equivalent.

Leah didn't smile back, in fact she didn't even acknowledge me, but I didn't let it affect me as much. I was starting to think that it was just a part of her personality. She was probably just a shy person who didn't talk much or she had a lot on her mind.

Paul came to sit back down next to me and the other boys found seats to sit in all around the room. Seth managed to squeeze in on the other side of me and I was pushed up against Paul.

Embry sat on a chair and Quil sat on the floor. Jacob dragged in a chair from the dining room table.

"Jacob," Quil started. "What is that in your mouth?"

I looked and saw Jacobs's large hand wrapped around one of Emiliy's delicious muffins. His mouth had stopped chewing but you could see the large crumbs rolling down the side of his cheeks.

"Nufin'" He said innocently.

"Did that sound like Muffin to you, Embry?" Quil said slowly starting to stand up.

Embry nodded his head and stood as well. "It did in deed."

Jacob shrugged and swallowed, "Not my fault you guys are slow." He said taking another bite before he continued. "You guys should probably hurry and go and get you one before Sam eats them all."

Before I could blink large body flew out of the rooms into the kitchen. Paul's warmth was still lingering he got up so fast. I blinked before o shook my head. '_I knew he was hungry. Why didn't he just eat some of mine?'_

I turned and saw that Leah was the only person that was still in the room. She was staring at me and I smiled at her, and she scowled at me again. I felt my stomach drop and looked down at my hands and started to twiddle my thumbs. I was starting think that she really didn't want me to be here and I was starting to feel less confident.

"So you work with Sam too?" I questioned wanting to make conversation to try and get rid of the awkwardness. She flashed her eyes to mine quickly and nodded her head. "That's cool I guess. Um, do you like doing security?"

She raised her eyebrow a little before she shook her head in annoyance. "Listen, I don't really have anything to say to you. So do me a favor and be quiet."

I narrowed my eyes a bit. It is true that I am not a very outspoken person but that doesn't give people the right to think that they could walk all over me just because I'm a little quiet.

"What's your problem?" I snapped at her. "I was just trying to be nice, that's no reason to be rude."

"I really don't want to get to know you I hear enough from Paul as it is, so like I said earlier, shut up."

I could see her getting angry now, but I wasn't about to back down. I hadn't done anything wrong to this girl yet she was being so rude.

"You don't have the right to judge people before you get to know them." I said glaring deeply at her. "And that is what I was trying to do, get to know. But now I'm not so sure I need to know any more than I already do. You've been glaring at me from the time that you steeped in side. I don't know what is wrong with you but don't take your shit out on me."

By this time I could hear some of the boy's coming back inside the room, but no one had said anything yet.

"Oh, please shorty, if I was taking my _shit_ out on you, you'd be six feet under by now." She hissed her nosing flaring.

I felt my cheeks burn with anger but before I could open my mouth to give my retort. A large body was suddenly blocking my view.

"Leah, stop being such a bitch!" I heard Paul growl out and Leah seemed to growl back, which was just as weird as when Paul did it. "She was just trying to be nice to you!"

"Well maybe I would have acted that way if you hadn't brought her here!" She spat back.

"Oh, please you would have done the same thing if I came here alone." He hissed. "That's just the way you are!"

I winced a little, it seemed a little harsh, but from what I had seen I couldn't say anything to really deny it. Leah started to open her mouth to say something back but Sam's booming voice got her and Paul to quiet down almost immediately.

"Paul! Leah! That's enough! Both of you need to calm down, so either sit down or go for a run."

Paul plopped down next to me and put and grabbed my hand again. The grip was a bit tighter than when he first grabbed it but I figured that was just because he was tensed. I saw Leah shake her head in disgust before she burst out the door.

I sighed and shook my head; I really didn't expect to get into two fights in the same day.


	11. Chapter 11

"Sorry about that Maya." Sam said apologetically. "Leah is really nice when you get to know her. It's just she's not the most trusting of…" I raised my eye brow as I saw him struggle to find the right word.

"Strangers?" I questioned.

Sam looked a little awkward as he tried to find the right words. "No not strangers, she's just not that great with making friends."

I felt a little skeptical at first. The tone of her voice was not one of someone who didn't do well when meeting others; I knew what that sounded like: shy, awkward and stuttering. She sounded it like she flat out hated me.

"Oh, well maybe I shouldn't have said the stuff that I did." I said. If it was hard for her to make friends I defiantly shouldn't have said the things I did to her, even if she was the one who started it. I know what it is like to be awkward when making friends. To this day I still have trouble going up and talking to people that I don't know.

"No, you don't have to apologize, Maya." Paul said, clearly still angry. "She's always like that, it's not just when new people are over."

It was silent for a minute like they all new exactly what he was talking about. I felt a little left out but it was their business and if I kept hanging out with Paul I was sure I would eventually find out anyway.

"Anyway, let's talk about something else!" Seth suddenly intervened. "Like the beating that Maya gave Zane today."

Sam raised any eyebrow and took a seat. I felt Paul tense up at Zane's name, and the rest of the boy's laughed as the told Sam what happened at lunch.

"And so the next thing that I see is Maya flying at Zane and beating his face in!" Seth said laughing with the others.

"Really?" Sam questioned looking a bit amazed. "That's not something that I would think to expect from you. You just don't seem like the fighting type person, no offence."

I felt my cheeks heat up and glared slightly at Seth. "None taken, because that is not what happened!" I said as I crossed my arms over my chest. "I did not go flying anywhere and I'm pretty sure that I wasn't beating his face in."

"Oh yeah?" Jacob questioned suddenly. "What did happen then? All I remember was hearing Zane yelling at you and then BAM, fist to face."

"We got into an argument that's all." I said not wanting to tell them all what really happened. I had already explained what happened to Paul and I would have to explain it again to my mother and I didn't want to dwell on the events more than I had to. "He called me something that I didn't appreciate and I just reacted, which I do feel a bit bad about."

Paul snorted, "You've got nothing to feel bad about. He deserved it. I bet now that he'll keep his mouth shut."

"Still," I started, "I overreacted the right thing to do was to walk away. Senselessly hitting a person has never solved anything."

Paul seemed to roll his eyes at that and the other boy's chuckled.

"Seems like you could learn a thing or two from Maya doesn't it Paul?" Quil said laughing.

"Shut up." Paul muttered kicking Quil with his foot.

"Ow." Quil said rubbing the side of his leg.

Emily popped her head into the living room, "Maya are you staying for dinner?"

"Uh,no." I said checking my phone and seeing that it was almost seven and also several missed calls from Zoe and my mother. It looked like my phone had been on silent. "Actually it looks like I have to get going. My mom's been calling me."

"Oh," She said seeming a little sad at first but then her smile lit up her face, "You are going to come back some time aren't you? I know we didn't talk a lot but it's nice to have people other than the boy's over."

I smiled and chuckled a little when the boy's gave mock offended gasps. "Yeah, I'd like to come over again. I actually enjoyed myself."

"Good," She said with a smile before saying goodbye and going back into the kitchen to finish up dinner.

"Do you mind taking me home now?" I questioned. "That is, if it's not too much trouble."

"It's no problem, let's go." He said pulling me up by the hand.

"By everyone." I said a little hurriedly as Paul pulled me out the door and to his truck. I didn't even hear them say bye.

"Thanks." I said with a smile as Paul opened the door. He didn't say anything but smiled back at me.

When Paul got in he turned on the truck and I jumped a little when the lights came on. Leah was walking by. She squinted a bit and then glared hardly at Paul and I. Paul growled back a little and Leah walked back into Emily's place.

"Thanks for taking me to Emily's." I started, "I wasn't sure that I was going to enjoy it as much as I did."

"No problem," He said. "I'll take you over again soon."

"I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get home." I mumbled looking out of the window and watching the trees go by.

"I could say it was my fault if you want."

"And you'd be right." I said teasingly. "But seriously what would you say? 'Sorry . It was entirely my fault that Maya punched Zane in the face even though I was nowhere near them when it happened.' Actually that might work. She does like you after all."

Paul chuckled. "Well if I hadn't of left I could have been the one to punch him in the face that way you wouldn't have gotten into trouble."

"Aww, how sweet." I said playfully. "No boy has ever volunteered to punch someone in the face for me, that is the most romantic thing that I have ever heard."

"Ha ha, you're funny." He mumbled. "But seriously I would have. I wouldn't even need a reason to punch him in his face. I just can't stand him."

It was quiet for a moment, and then I remembered Paul telling me to stay away from Zane the first time he drove me home.

"I guess you were right." I said putting my elbow on the window and leaning my cheek on to my palm.

"About?"

"You told me to stay away from Zane, that he wasn't a good guy." I began, "And I didn't believe you."

"It's not your fault." He said. "The way I said it, wasn't going to make you believe me even if it were true." Paul finished as he pulled into the driveway. I could see that the living room light was on and felt my heart thump in my chest. Even if I did know how everything was going to happen that didn't mean I was less scared of getting in trouble.

"You sure you don't want me to lie for you." Paul asked as we sat in the driveway for well over five minutes.

"Yeah I should probably just go in I said opening the door. I reached for my bag and realized that it wasn't there.

"Crap!" I exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" He asked looking concerned.

"I left my backpack at Emily's."

"That's okay; I'll bring it to you when I pick you up tomorrow." He said coolly.

"Pick me up?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow. "From where?"

"Here of course." He said with a smirk.

"And when did I agree to this?"

"So you're saying that you'd rather have your mom drop you off at school when you could have _me_," He used his hand to gesture to himself and he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively ay me. "Drop you off instead."

I stared at him, "If you keep doing that I'm going to have to say yes to that."

"Like you don't find me insanely attractive."

"Never said that I didn't." I said getting out. "I just don't find you attractive when you do that."

I got out the car and was at the porch when I heard Paul yell, "I'll be here at eight!"

I turned and gave him the thumbs up and a wave before going inside. I sighed and relaxed when I finally closed the door behind me but tensed up again when I heard my mother's stern voice.

"So, there you are." She said glaring at me with harsh chocolate eyes. I felt small under her gaze.

"So you decided to go and have fun with your little friends before coming home, huh?" Her voice was raising but I didn't answer. In the very few times that I had gotten into trouble I had learn never to answer questions when she's angry. It should be like a rule: Never answer your Parents questions when they're pissed at you, otherwise pisstivity level will increase exponentially.

"I can't believe you did this Maya!" She was yelling now and I was feeling even smaller. "I didn't move us out here so you could start fights! What were you even thinking? You know what don't even answer that because I know already! You weren't! "

"Do you know how embarrassing it is to get a call at work and find out that my child is hitting people?"

At this point I started to tune out. There was only so much I could take, and when the focus started to go from me to her I knew that there really was no point in me listening anymore.

Her yelling actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, I suppose the thoughts that I had going through my mind took a bit of the impact off.

When she was finished with her rant she told me to go up to my room. I did and for about an hour I sat at the computer before creeping down stairs to get some food and ninja sneaking my way back up the stairs.

When I was finished I put my plate in the sink downstairs before getting in the shower and getting ready for bed. It was only ten but I felt super exhausted. I supposed that I had a long day. After all its not every day that you punch your friends brother and have an argument with a completely only to be driven home by and extremely hot guy who has an extremely bad temper.

I had really no idea why my life was going so weird and had only been her for a little over two weeks. I blamed Paul. The fact that the whole time my mother was yelling at me and he was the only thing that I could think about was proof enough in itself. To be honest I really don't know how to feel about him. It's true that I like him, but in such a short amount of time I have gotten into so much without even trying.

Then again could I really blame Paul? Maybe the universe was trying to force me to experience a rebellious stage, even if I wasn't the one doing the rebelling.

I groaned as my head hit the pillow. I was absolutely dreading tomorrow. Sure it would start off semi-well, Mom will be willing to listen to my side of the story and I get to ride with Paul to school, but after wouldn't go so great. I still had Zoe to confront and I would probably have to apologize to Zane for breaking his nose, if he was at school that is. Not to mention the gossiping that would be going around. I hated that, I think that is probably the worst part of high school, people talking about thing that they have absolutely no idea about. And probably the worst part of the day after school.

'_Stupid detention,'_ I thought frowning. '_Whoever thought of detention hated kids.'_

I turned out my light and caught a glimpse of the credits of _the Cosby Show_ before letting myself finally drift to sleep.

'_Who ever said small towns are peaceful was a liar.'_


	12. Chapter 12

I looked down into my _Frosted Flakes_ and stirred it with my spoon as I chewed a piece of turkey bacon. My mom hadn't said anything to me since I finished telling her what happened at school. I could tell she was still taking in the information and that she felt sorry for yelling at me like she had last night. I knew she was still disappointed that I had resorted to hitting someone but wasn't mad at me for doing it.

"I'm sorry baby." She started. "I had no idea that's what happened. The way the principal sounded it was like you just walked up and punched the boy."

"Well, I don't think he was listening to me when I told him what happened." I said rolling my eyes. "All he heard was that Zane had a bloody nose and that I was the cause of it. I think that because I'm the one who did the physical act he felt like I was the one who deserved to be punished more."

"Do you want me to go up to the school and talk to them for you?" She asked. "It's not right that you are the only one who has to suffer."

"No it's fine." I said shrugging finishing off my food. "I figured I'd just use the time to get my homework done. No big deal."

"Okay then." She said as she cleared the dishes from the table. When she came back into the room she smiled at me and said, "Better get ready to go baby. I have to go into town early today."

"It's okay mom I don't need a ride." I said with a smile.

"Oh? And whys that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My friend is giving me a ride."

"Which one?" She questioned getting a mischievous look on her face.

"Why does it matter?" I asked looking at her strangely.

"Well, it's clearly not Zoe or Zane, because of obvious reason. Unless you've made some other friends that you didn't tell me about it's one of the gorgeous boys' isn't." She said smirking. Her smirk seemed to get even bigger when she saw me look away from her. "I knew it!"

"I didn't say yes!" I argued.

"It's Paul isn't it?" She said clapping childishly. "I'm so happy for you! I saw him drop you off last night. You're growing up! I'm so happy but sad."

"Don't you have somewhere to go?" I grumbled.

Realization came to her eyes and she looked at her watch, "Oh you're right! I better get going." I watched as she hurriedly grabbed her bags and ran to the door. "Tell me how it goes, okay?" Then she slammed the door behind her and she left.

I shook my head and went to the living room to watch some T.V. and wait for Paul to come.

Xxx

And I waited and waited and waited and waited. Finally by nine-thirty I figured he wasn't going to show up. It's true that I knew he probably wasn't going to show up before then but I really wasn't in any hurry to get to school.

Aside from the fact I was incredibly lazy I was also incredibly pissed off. No call, no text, no nothing. I'm extremely late for school and I don't even have my bag with my stuff in it. I could feel my face heating in anger. I was probably more mad that he didn't show up or tell me that he wasn't coming, then that fact that I was missing school.

I looked at my phone and still saw that I had no messages or calls. And that seemed to piss me off even more because I had been angrily texting him for the better part of the last hour. I looked at the clock again and then decide that I wasn't going to school. Starting off a school day late angry were not two things that I wanted to do.

If I wasn't going to school I needed to tell my mom at least. So a sent her a message.

'_Hey can you call the school for me? I didn't go because I don't feel well.'_

About five minutes later I got a reply.

'_Wats rong?'_

I glared at the phone and the crappy text writing in front of me. '_Am I the only person in the world who spells out every single word when texting' _I thought to myself shaking my head.

'_Nothing, my stomachs just upset, that's all.'_

'_Ewwwww, u got da shits don u!'_

'_MOM!'_

'_LOL! Don worry ill call'_

'_Thanks'_

I sighed and shook and shook my head, even over the phone she was ridiculous. Looking at the time I saw it was nine-forty five. I went upstairs, put my hair in a clip and changed into some sweats. A day full of Law and Order marathons and Maury episodes is what was in store for me today.

Xxx

At around two I woke up from my cookie dough ice cream induced coma to hear a frantic knock on the door.

"All right all right!" I called running down stairs using the sleeve of my shirt to wipe away some drool on my chin.

I opened the door curiously then slammed it when I saw Paul standing on the other side.

"Come on Maya, open up!" He whined.

"Why should I!" I yelled back leaning my back against the door. "I missed a day of school because of you! This means I'm probably behind now thanks a lot!" Even though I really didn't care I wanted him to feel guilty about making me miss vital parts of my education and impeding one my chance for a higher education. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that serious, but still he should feel guilty about me being a day dumber.

"I'm sorry." He said pitifully.

"Then, you don't even call me back after I call you like twenty-times." I snap "What about that part? Were you, just ignoring me?!"

"No." He started hesitantly.

"Oh?" I start. "So then what were you doing?"

"Nothing just open the door." He said all hesitation leaving his voice as he was seemingly starting to get annoyed. "I've got your bag."

"No I'm mad at you!" I said childishly.

"Are you really?"

"Yes!"

"I don't believe you." He said flatly.

"And why is that?" I asked flinging open the door.

"Judging from your outfit I'd say you're happy about not having to go to school." He said with a smirk.

I looked down and felt my face flush. I did look like I was quite relaxed. Slightly wrinkled sweats with an ice cream stain on the right pants leg and the bit of drool on my left sleeve. Paired with a head full of what I'm sure was messy hair, I probably looked like I wasn't setting foot out of the house anytime soon.

"Fine you got me." I said sticking my tongue out at him.

"Didn't I tell you about that tongue before?" He questioned slyly.

I rolled my eyes and stretched out my hand, "Give me my bag."

"Not until you invite me in."

"How about don't I and you just give me my bag and just go home?"

"How about you invite me in and we watch a movie?"

"Look just because I'm not pissed off about not going to school doesn't mean that I'm not pissed off that you ignored me all morning." I said plainly.

"I didn't know you cared that much." He said smirking.

"I don't!" I snapped. "And stop trying to change the subject."

"I'm not." He said with another shrug and smirk. "I'm just pointing out something."

"Look I'll let you in if you tell me why you were ignoring me."

"I wasn't ignoring you; I just didn't hear the phone." He said with a shrug.

"Oh really?" I said with a raised eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"I was sleep."

And with that I went to slam the door in his face, but his foot stopped that.

"Don't be mad." He said coming inside. "I'll make it up to you, and we can spend the rest of the day together."

"I really don't see any good in that for." I said closing the door and watching him flop on the couch and turn the television on. "Just make yourself at home why don't you?

"Thanks I will." He said with a smirk. Then he patted the spot next him. "Come watch T.V. with me."

"No I'm going to go change then call the police and tell them that there's a giant bear man in my house."

"You don't have to change you look fine." He said looking at me once again.

"You must be really excited to experience an encounter with the police."

"Like they could take me."

"So you admit that you were grown in a lab and mixed with bear DNA, good to know." I said coming to sit next him.

"Not bear." He said smirking.

"Walrus then?" I said snatching the remote from his hand.

"Why a walrus?" He questioned as he succeeded in taking the remote back from me without any trouble. He chuckled as I pouted and threw his arm behind me.

"Because you are massive, extremely loud and you snort and growl, all characteristics of a Walrus." I said smiling at him.

He glared at me and I laughed a little. He shook his head and used the remote to flash through the guide on the television screen.

"What do you want to watch?" He asked.

"I don't remember ever agreeing to watch anything with you."

"You let me in."

"You forced your way in." I corrected him quickly.

"You're sitting on the couch with me and don't seem to mind much."

"That doesn't mean anything." I mumbled feeling my cheeks.

"_Pirates of the Caribbean_ is on, want to watch that?" He said completely ignoring me.

"I guess that's fine." I said leaning back and making myself comfortable. I flinched a little when I felt Paul's hand fall on my shoulder but I relaxed a moment later. That seemed to make him happy because I could practically feel him relax when I didn't push him away.

By the time that Elizabeth was brought to Barbosa's ship I could feel myself falling asleep. I wasn't particularly tired but the oven like temperature that Paul gave off was making me sleepier by the second. I felt myself snuggle into his side and a chuckle rumble through his body when I did.

"What?" I almost whined out.

"Nothing, you're just cute is all." He said chuckling.

"Tell me something I don't know." I said teasingly.

"Cocky are we?"

"You're one to talk." I mumbled into his side.

"Just go to sleep."

"Okay."

Xxx

I woke up to hushed snickering and the sound of a flash then more snickering. I groaned and rubbed the back of my head before flipping over trying to block out the sound. When that didn't work I moved my hand around looking for a pillow just as comfortable as the one as I was lying on.

My eyes snapped opened when I felt my pillow had arms. My blurry vision was clear enough for me the tight gray shirt stretched over its chest and the khaki shorts that all pillows wear.

I sat up quickly and almost squealed when I heard Paul give a groan. My elbow had hit his throat and he was now sleepily rubbing his eyes and now sore throat.

"You guys are so funny." A chipper voice said from behind me.

I jumped and glared at the woman. "MOM!"

"Smile baby!" She said as she snapped another picture. "I'm so sending this to the family."

"MOM!"

"What's with the yelling?" Paul sleepy voice called out his eyes fully opening as I moved off of him so we both could sit up properly.

"God, you're even cuter than I thought you were." Mom said in awe as she snapped another picture.

"What time is it?" He said standing up stretching.

"Eight." Mom said casually while scrolling through the pictures she took of us.

"Shit." He mumbled and ran a hand through his short hair.

"What's wrong?" I questioned.

"I'm late for work."

"Oh," I started. "Well, you should get going."

"Yeah. I'll see you when I pick you up tomorrow okay."

"Will you show up tomorrow?" I said looking at him skeptically.

"Yeah, I'll even be early."

"Fine. See you tomorrow then." I said watching him walk to the door.

"Bye Maya. See you later Mrs. Ross."

"Bye sweetie." She called after him.

I let a breath out after he left and picked up the remote to start flipping through the channels.

"So," I heard mom start. "Where stomach troubles the only reason you stayed home today?"

"Well you see…"


	13. Chapter 13

Today was going to be ridiculous I just knew it. I had to man-up and face Zoe today and I would have that horrible thing called detention. With any luck someone I know will get in trouble and keep me company.

One good thing about how the day started off was that Paul was on time picking me up, that I was excited about. No more awkward rides with mom, now only semi-awkward rides with Paul. Great!

The horrible thing about riding with Paul was that even when I wasn't looking I could still feel his eyes looking at me. Shouldn't he have been paying attention to the road? What was worse was that besides how insanely creepy it was I found myself not minding nearly as much as I did when I first met him. So one of either two things was happening; either I was getting used to his creepy display of concern/twisted affection, or I am slowly becoming some kind of freak who actually enjoys the staring and wants to stare back (which I think is more likely).

Other than that the ride with Paul was actually enjoyable. He was funny, something that was refreshing since I had only seen him angry, pissed off, or angrier. He was sweet too, in a sort of guy kind of way. He would talk about Embry, Quil, and the others like they were his family and I could tell from the look in his eyes that he would really do anything for them.

Arriving at school wasn't bad either. The only thing that I would have to say would have made it better is that walking me to my first class Paul would not let go of my hand. I got stares and of course glares form both girls and guys. I really did not want this kind of attention. One reason was that I did not like it and the other was that I didn't want to attract attention to myself after my outburst.

When we arrived at my class room I quickly pulled my hand away from his and smiled at him.

"I'll see you in Spanish." He said looking at me directly in the eye. I nodded numbly and turned to head into the class but I stopped when I felt him pull on my wrist. I stopped breathing when I felt him press a kiss to my cheek and he whispered, "Good luck," in my ear.

I stopped outside the door for a moment to catch my breath and let my heart beat get back down to its normal rate. I raised my hand to my cheek and closed my eyes and I could still feel the outline of his lips on my skin.

When I walked in the class room all good feelings that Paul had given me instantly went out of the window when I saw Zoe sitting in the desk directly across from mine. She looked up when I entered the classroom and a deep glare was painted on her face. I gulped and walked to my seat.

I took a deep breath when I sat down. I looked at her and tried to smile politely, but she ignored me, but it wasn't like I expected anything more friendly. She was, understandably, still mad at me for what I had done.

Xxx

Closer to the end of class the teacher gave us a ten minute break. I started to pack up my stuff when a heard Zoe shut her book loudly.

"Are you okay?" I asked her quietly.

"So you skip a day after you break my brothers nose and publically humiliate him and then on the day you come back you let Paul, _weird_ Paul kiss you?" She said acidly, as she ignored me question. "You know I really thought that you were different from other girls."

"You know you make it sound like I broke you brother's nose just for the hell of it!" I hissed back at her. "Did he tell you what he did? Because I was pretty sure that he was the one who started it!"

Zoe rolled her eyes and scoffed, "So he called you a few names, not like you didn't deserve it, especially after the way I see you hang all over Paul."

I felt myself become angry but I tried to quell my anger with thoughts of getting out of this class and not wanting to have detention again. "I'm really starting to see why Paul was telling me to stay away from both of you."

"And why is that?" She said rolling her eyes.

"Because everything that your brother does is right to you!" I exclaimed. "I bet if he killed someone just because he didn't like the type of shoes they were wearing you would still blame the victim."

"I don't think that what my brother did was right!" She hissed back angrily and by this time the other students and of course the teacher was paying attention to us, but I could see he was starting to get irritated with our rudeness.

"Miss Ross and Miss Reyes, I think you both should step outside if you are going to continue this conversation!" He said sternly while looking at us with a strong glare.

We did not pay any attention to the clamoring of the other students when we walked to the exit of the classroom. When we got into the hall we started where we left off.

"If you don't think what he did was right then why do you get mad at me every time that he does something wrong?" I questioned with a hiss still in my voice.

"Firstly, I do not always take sides with my brother, so you don't have any right to say that!" She exclaimed. "You haven't even been here long enough to really get to know us!"

"I don't think that I want to get to know people who think it is oaky to call others out of their names and not think that there isn't going to be any type of retaliation!" I responded.

"Like I said earlier you probably deserved it if you were acting the way you were with Paul!" She spat back wrinkling her nose up in disgust. "I bet you opened your legs to him the day that I dropped you off!"

Why does everyone keep insinuating that I am some type of whore? This proves the theory that no one believes that you can ever just be _friends_ with someone. And can you even call us friends? He's just my creepy stalker who I let kiss me on the cheek.

I bit my lip and clenched my fist; I really didn't think that it was going to be this bad. She just wouldn't see anything wrong with what her brother did. I will take some of the blame and say that I probably lead Zane on, but it was not like I meant to or that I had some ulterior motive behind it, I just thought I liked him more than I did.

"You know I'm trying to be civil with you," I said trying to keep my voice steady. "Yet this whole time all that you have been doing is insulting me!"

She opened her mouth to say something but I cut her off, "And I'm starting to feel like you aren't mad because of what I did to your brother."

She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, "Oh yeah? So what other reason than you whoring around with Paul and basically cheating on my brother, do you think I have to be mad."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here!" I snapped at her. "Your brother and I weren't together, hell we never even went out on a date. And why does everything come back to me being with Paul?"

"Well you-"

"I think you like Paul."

I watched her reaction and saw her cheeks heat up and she suddenly started stuttering and I knew that I had hit the nail on the head.

"That's not true!" She lamely argued.

"You know there is no reason to deny it." I said looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "And it makes so much sense about why you got mad at me when I told you I gave my number to Paul."

She didn't say anything but she did have a guilty look on her face.

"It makes so much sense now!" I said narrowing my eyes at her. "When you said you did not know how you felt about me hanging out with Paul, it wasn't because you thought I liked your brother it was because you like Paul!"

"So what if it was?" She suddenly fired back. "I don't see what the big deal is!"

"You're the one who made it a big deal, instead of just being upfront with me." I said looking at her. I was really starting to get tired of this argument. I didn't feel like I should have to fight over a boy that isn't mine and I was hardly any competition that Zoe had to worry about, she had clearly forgotten about Yvone.

"Well-" She looked down and didn't finish her statement and just when she was about to open her mouth and finish what she wanted to say the bell rung.

"I don't think we have any more to say to each other." I said looking at her seriously. "If you can't be up front with me just because I happen to be friends, and just friends, with a boy that you like I don't think that you'll be able to be truthful about too much else."

"So were done then?" She asked looking me in the eye not looking at all sorry.

"I've been done."

"Fine."

I watched her as she disappeared in the sea of bodies and I felt my heart drop. I'd never broken up with anyone let alone a friend before. We just sort of drifted apart. It felt strange to know that I probably wasn't ever going to talk to her again, unless we were forced to. To be honest, even if she was lying to me the whole time, I missed her already.

"Hey." A deep voice called from beside me and I felt my heart drop even further.

I looked up at Paul with sad eyes and the smile that he had been sporting instantly dropped from his face.

"It will be okay." He said as he pulled me in for a hug. I felt my heart soar to my throat when his arms closed around my waist. I felt awkward though, thinking of all the people in the hall would probably be staring at us, but I was overwhelmed by his warmth and just gave in. When I hugged him back, I felt him almost relax in relief. It was a nice hug.

A nice hug that he did not want to break for the next five minutes. Every time I went to pull away he would just pull tighter.

"You know we are going to be late?" I mumbled into his chest.

"I don't care." He mumbled into my hair and I sighed when I felt the shivers roll down my back.

"Well I do." I said as sternly as I could and I finally managed to pull myself away from him. "And besides, I feel incredibly awkward standing in the hallway anyway, let alone showing public displays of affection."

"Affection?" He questioned as we walked to our class. "So you admit that you like me then?"

"What? No." I said shaking my head. "That is not what I meant at all. A hug is a display of affection and the fact we are in an area that people are able to see us makes it public."

"But you still shared some of your affection with me." He stated slyly. "And it's not the first time either."

"Shut up." I mumbled causing him to chuckle as he opened the classroom where the teacher started as angrily.

"You're late."


	14. Chapter 14

So lucky me, I get to spend an extra thirty minutes with Paul after school today. Apparently teacher didn't like that we were late, even if it was only by a minute.

I just let Spanish fly by me as I tried not to get distracted by Paul who was either saying something suggestive or asking if I was all right after the fall out that I had with Zoe.

To answer his serious question, I still felt like that I was going to wake up and realize that it was just a dream and that I had not lost my only friend that I was not forced to meet.

On my way to lunch I stopped by the bathroom to wash my face and just to take a break in the lounge area that they had attached. It was weird; apparently bathrooms are the popular place to hang out.

When I splashed the cool water on my face I almost sighed in relief as it cooled me off. I used a towel to dry my face and looked out of the corner of my eye and saw a girl fixing her makeup and I was glad I didn't wear any except for some lip gloss and the occasional eyeliner.

"Well, well if it isn't the new girl. Making quite a name for yourself aren't you?" I heard a snippy voice call from behind me.

I sighed and threw the towel in the trash. I looked behind me and almost groaned out loud. Yvone was standing there with another girl behind her.

"Oh, hi." I said in a bored tone. "It's nice to see you again."

"Don't be rude. Look at someone when they are talking to you!" She said getting a little annoyed that I had turned my eyes away from her.

"I'll look at you when you aren't glaring at me."

"Can't handle the pressure?" She said feeling proud of her self.

"No not really. I just find the fact that you think you are tough comical and the fact that you so obviously came in her to try and intimidate me even more so." I said feeling a little tart.

"Ugh." She said rolling her eyes. "You know what freak? Just forget about it."

"Oh freak? How original." I said sarcastically finally turning around to look at the girl.

"Look I just came to tell you to stay away from Paul." She spat as she got close to my face. "He's mine got it!"

Normally I would not say anything, but since I was a little pissed off that the quiet that I had sought after was being disturbed by something as trivial as this I decided to fight fire with fire, metaphorically speaking of course.

"If he was yours how come he spent the day with me yesterday?" I questioned with a smirk on my face hopefully looking confident because my heart was beating in my throat.

"What!" She almost shrieked and I was sure that I had gone deaf in my left ear, which was a shame because that was my good ear.

"What, you didn't think we got that close just by being at school with each other, did you?" I said, my smirk growing even wider, but for some reason I had the sinking feeling in my stomach that I was going to regret this. "In fact he has been over my house plenty of times. And my mother was home."

For some reason, even though I knew that nothing had happened, adding the fact that my mother was home made it even more scandalous for these girls. And apparently Yvone had enough of my taunting her and grabbed the front of my shirt. I have to say that I was not expecting her to be so strong.

"Listen you," She hissed in my ear. "If I hear another word about you and Paul, I will personally come and find you and make sure that he'll never want to see you again."

I was sure that she meant that threat and that her lackey behind her would have no problem carrying it out. For some reason though I could not stop myself, even though I felt like I was going to shit my pants any minute, I just could not stop myself from talking.

"Please, you saw what I did to Zane didn't you? And he was twice your size." I said smirking as I yanked my shirt away from her. "You really think someone like you could hurt me? Please."

For a moment she stared at me, looking directly in my eyes like she was looking for something. I felt like I was in one of those really tense moments in the movies when you know someone isn't going to walk out of the room alive, except that this wasn't about life or death, I was pretty sure the most that was going to happen was a bit of lipstick smearing.

Whatever she was looking for the moment she found it her smirk got even wider then it was before.

"We'll see about that, new girl." She said as she pushed me slightly causing me to grip the sink behind me. She and her friend chuckled as they walked out of the bathroom leaving me to deal with the nausea that was coming on.

I turned around to the sink to wash my face again. When I dried it I frowned, I looked a little pale, probably due to the nausea. I sighed when I left the bathroom; I still had four other periods left.

Xxx

You know that awkward feeling when you are the only one at lunch who has no one to sit with on the first day of school? Yeah that was how I was feeling right now. I stood at the end of the line for the food counter and I ran my eyes across every table that I could possibly sit at. All of them were full except one, the one where Paul and the others were sitting. They were laughing and having a good time and I didn't really want to interrupt and it would be even more awkward if I went over there and said 'Hey since I have no other friends, can I sit with you guys?' It didn't seem like the best idea just to go over and sit either.

_'Maybe I could sit outside?'_ I thought to myself. _'Pretend I'm really into nature and stuff.'_

When I got my burger for lunch I quickly tried to make my way to the door exit but apparently I had caught someone's eye.

"Hey Maya!" Seth's cheerful voice called for me.

I looked at him and waved and internally sighed when all of the gazes at the table turned to look at me.

"Where are you going?" questioned Paul.

"Uh, I was just going to go sit outside." I said wanting to continue on my way out.

"Why don't you just come sit with us?" He asked again.

"No thanks." I said quickly. "You guys look kind of squished over there." It was true, their six large frames sitting on the benches of the table made it look like it was going to collapse any minute. There was already another person there to though. A girl, who was sitting next to Jared and even though her face didn't show it I was sure she was feeling a little cramped, I didn't want to make it worse.

"It's fine." He said almost sternly as looked at me. I sighed and looked at the exit again before walking over to the table. I stood there awkwardly as I looked at the little room that was there from me to sit in between Jared and Paul.

"I don't think that is enough room for me to sit down." No sooner than I had said it did Paul slap Embry on the shoulder and make him move to the other side of the table where he squeezed himself next to Quil. Paul moved over as much as he could so I could sit down. "Thanks." I mumbled.

"No problem." Everyone chimed, except the girl, at the same time; still as creepy as the first day that I met them.

"Maya I don't think you've met Kim yet have you?" Jared said motioning to the pretty girl beside him. The way he said Kim's name was like it was just the most wonderful thing that he could possibly speak. It was sweet but kind of creepy at the same time. He wasn't a stalker like Paul was he?

Kim had the same russet skin tone like the others if not a little bit light then the others. She had high cheek bones that made her face look a little wide. She had beautiful white teeth and when she smiled it added a light to her face that made her seem beautiful. She was a different pretty then Yvone was. She had a sort of natural beauty that radiated from the inside out.

"Nice to meet you." She said it what could be considered a quiet tone compared to the other loud voices around us.

"You too." I smiled back. I was glad to meet her and happy that she did not seem as creepy as the others. Hopefully she wouldn't turn out to be some sort of puppy murderer.

The rest of lunch went by pretty fast. I didn't say much but I did enjoy myself, watching and listening to the others make jokes and laugh happily was entertaining.

The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly too. It seemed that the day wasn't going to be as bad as I thought it was. Before I knew it school was over and it was time for me to head to detention.

I went to my locker to drop off the books that I didn't need and pick up a note book for some mindless drawings.

"Ready for detention?" Questioned Paul as he suddenly appeared beside me.

"Can one ever truly be ready to have their time wasted?" I questioned shutting the door and starting to walk down the hall.

"Well it won't be a complete waste of time." He said falling into stride beside me. "I will be there after all."

"Humph." I said rolling my eyes. "If I didn't know any better I would say that you purposely wanted to get detention."

"It's a possibility." He said with a shrug and he smirked when he saw my jaw drop. "Maybe I didn't want you to suffer by yourself?"

"Maybe you just wanted to bug me?"

"You're probably right." He said still smirking and he laughed when I hit him with my notebook.

"You can be really annoying you know?" I said fighting smile.

"Just a little." he said opening the door for me.

We walked in quietly and saw a few other students, all of whom I didn't recognize. Now that I thought about it I hadn't really taken any chance to introduce myself to any one besides Zoe and Zane. The only reason I knew Paul was because of Seth, Quil, and Embry. And the only reason I knew them was because they came up to me. It wasn't to say that I particularly wanted to make friends with people in detention, but I should probably try to open up a bit more.

About ten minutes after detention had started the teacher was already asleep and half of the people were either texting or playing games on their phones. I, myself am proud to say that I was doing neither. In fact I had lost myself in a rather crude drawing of some type of robot monster that said 'I will destroy you all.' It took a lot of work to get focused on it mainly because of the eyes that were burning a hole into the side of my face.

"Need something?" I questioned sarcastically.

"I was just wondering if you were still going to come to the beach tomorrow." Paul said still looking at me.

"I planned on it." I said not moving my eyes from paper as I finished the arm of my death machine.

"Good." he said with a smile in his voice.

"Is that all?"

"No actually. I was wondering if you wanted to go do something afterwards."

"Oh yeah?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow as I finally turned my attention to him and met his chocolate brown eyes. "Like what?"

"I don't know, you can choose. It would be our first date after all." He said nonchalantly his eyes no ever leaving mine.

Thank God that the pencil I was using was mechanical otherwise I would have probably snapped it in half. I felt my cheeks and the top of my nose heat up and I wanted to cover my face to hide the barley visible red that would come through on my brown skin.

"A d-date?" I questioned stuttering. "You want to go on a date with me?"

"Of course why wouldn't I." He questioned.

"Uh, I don't know." I said looking at him. "It's just that I'm always kind of rude to you or I yell at you a lot."

"Yeah you do." He said not missing a beat. "But I know it's just away for you to get around saying that you want me." He finished smirking.

My face still felt like it was on fire, but I narrowed my eyes at him and didn't say anything.

"So how about it? It's fine if you don't know where you want to go right now we can just wing it tomorrow." He said. "Just tell me if you want to go."

I looked at him for a minute. With his gorgeous face and that cocky smirk that I knew would only get bigger if I said yes but I really wanted to say yes. It wouldn't be a bad thing right? Going on a date with your stalker isn't against the law is it?

"All right, we can go somewhere after."


	15. Chapter 15

As soon as Paul dropped me off back at home I ran upstairs, feelingly overly excited. I wanted to jump up and down in excitement. I felt like a little girl getting the toy that she wanted for Christmas. I had never been on a date before, in fact before now I really don't think that any boy had ever shown any interest in me, not the way that Paul has. Even though it was a little creepy I finally felt like I was experiencing the high school life that people brag about, the part that was supposed to be the best four years of your life. I mean this date could turn out to be horrible but at least I wouldn't have to go through the rest of my life saying that I had never been out on a date before.

I picked up my phone and went to dial Zoe's number. I stopped myself right before I hit the talk button and just stared at my phone for a while. In my happiness I had forgotten that I didn't have a friend to share this happiness with anymore, not that she would have been happy for me any way. She would have probably yelled at me and told me that I was making the worst mistake of my life. But at least I would have someone to tell. At this rate the only person that I would be able to share the details with would be my mom and she would probably laugh at me because I was acting like a child.

I really did not like being lonely. I had felt like that for most of my life. When I was in grade school I preferred to hang out and play by myself. It felt, and sometimes still feels, like I'm the only one that doesn't belong; like I was the alien. But being able to make friends and talk to people was something that was becoming easier even if I felt like I was going to throw up every time I met someone new. It was all a part of growing up right?

Putting my head phones on and I turned on some BoA and hummed along to _Eat You Up_ before I eventually found myself walking around the house singing out loud.

"I'll eat you up, your love your lo-uuh-ve." I sang happily as I walked down to the kitchen to get a snack.

"I think it'll be me who does the eating." A sly voice called.

I stopped moving and felt my heart speed up. I swallowed and turned around to face the unfamiliar voice. I turned and saw a beautiful woman with wild red hair and blood red eyes to match. She had a snarl on her face but that didn't take away from her beauty. She had the palest skin that I had ever seen. I pulled my headphones down slowly until they were around my neck.

"What are you doing in my house?" I said keeping my voice steady but the quietness of it showed my fear.

"You know you really are in the perfect position." She said not answering my question. "Your little wolf boy can't come and attack me while I'm on one side of the house and the Cullen's can't while I'm on the other and the best thing is, right now we are both in the middle so it is completely out of their control."

"I don't know what you are talking about." I said looking around as discreetly as possible for some sort of weapon. There was a lamp that was just to the side of me and I ran to grab it but somehow she was in front of me and grabbed my wrist and twisted it back painfully causing me to whimper.

"Ah ah ah, you don't want to do that; it won't help you any way. It'll just piss me off." She said snarling at me.

I tried to punch her but it felt like a shattered my hand on some invisible brick wall. She only smirked as I screamed in pain.

"Humans are so fragile." She said as she chuckled and pushed my hair back from the side of my neck. I trembled when I felt her ice cold fingers on the side of it. I struggled and tried to pull away from her even though I knew it was useless.

She laughed at my struggles and said, "You are funny. Most humans would have given up by now." She kept laughing and in my anger I spat in her face. That got her to stop laughing altogether. Her grip tightened even more and I winced and screamed again.

"You disgusting little rat!" She spat and threw me across the room. I landed on one of the coffee tables and I scream as I felt my arm snap.

She picked me up by my hair and bashed my head into a wall. My vision started to become blurry at that point but I wasn't going to pass out. I had to get away from her somehow and I didn't want to die yet.

I screeched when I felt her teeth sink into my neck. Aside from being the most painful sensation imaginable I also felt strange, while she was sucking it also felt like she was injecting something back into me.

She let me fall to the ground and she chuckled while I rolled painfully on the floor. She kicked my side a little and said, "Come one if you don't make this a little more interesting I'm going to have to kill you."

Hearing those words I tried to crawl to the front door and mad it successfully to the front porch. The entire time she was laughing at my weak attempts to escape.

"Come one you can do better than that!" She said and picked me up and threw me into the forest.

I screeched as I rolled before I came to a stop. The bite on my neck felt like it was burning me from the inside out and not to mention the other broken bones that I was sure to have.

I felt her boot on the side of my head as my vision darkened. I knew I was going to die. There was no way that I was going to survive this.

She chuckled and picked me up by my hair again and opened her mouth wide as if to take another bite when all of a sudden something tackled her away from me. She was sent flying one way and I went straight towards the tree and hit my head and I lost consciousness.

Xxx

I twitched when I heard the beeping of a heart monitor. I slowly opened my eyes and shut them immediately when the sunlight hit them. I felt a tear roll down the side of my face from not being used to the bright light. When I opened my eyes again I sighed and I was able to let them adjust to the light. I looked around and saw the all-white walls of a hospital room, and I smiled to myself glad that I was a live.

I felt a warm hand on my own and I looked down to my left and saw Paul resting his head on the bed while he slept. His hand was wrapped around my own and I tried to smile slightly.

I went to use my right hand to wake him, but I couldn't feel it. I moved my head to my right to look at it and I stared at it. I was frustrated because it was completely covered by the white of the cast. In frustration I wanted to scream but I couldn't do that either. In fact I couldn't move anything except my head.

I whimpered wanting to cry. I felt numb. It was a strange feeling and I knew that it was probably all of the drugs that the doctors were pumping into me to keep me from feeling any pain. I laid their whimpering and crying. I didn't understand what happened and why it happened to me. What did I do wrong? Was it because I was mean to Zoe and Yvone today? Did I really deserve this?

I laid there for about thirty minutes wallowing in my own self-pity until I heard the door to the room open. A tall blonde haired man entered. He had these amazing golden eyes and pale skin. He was beautiful just like the lady who attacked me was but he radiated kindness while the lady radiated malice.

His eyes widened a little when he saw that I was awake and watching him, then he smiled. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could, Paul groaned and woke up. I wanted to smile at him. He looked adorable with his bed head and still sleepy eyes.

"It is funny to see that you both wake up at the same time." The man's voice said chuckling but Paul ignored him and I kind of did to.

I looked Paul in the eyes and he stared back at me. I felt my eyes filling up with tears. And he picked up my left hand, which apparently was the only part of my body that wasn't in some type of cast. He kissed the back of it and I barely heard him whisper that he was sorry.

I didn't know what he had to be sorry about. It wasn't his fault that this happened. It was the fault of some crazy lady who had a bad habit of breaking into people's houses and long with other strange habits, such as biting people in the neck.

"It is good to see that you are awake." The man who I assume was the doctor said as he checked the different machines and wrote things down on his clip board. When he finished he looked at me and flashed another one of his kind smiles. "I know that you are probably uncomfortable right now, but you will have to put up with it for a while okay?" I blinked at him a couple of times and I guess he assumed that meant yes. "I'm sure that you have figured out by now that you aren't able to move most of your body."

I blinked again and he chuckled.

"You have a slim fracture on your spine and a cracked skull. Your right leg is broken and so is your right arm. We put you into a modified full body cast so that you won't feel like you're completely suffocated."

I groaned and he smiled sadly at me. "I know that you are probably going to take a while off of school and you will not be able to go home for a long time. But if you need something promise that you will tell me and I'll try to get it for you okay?"

I heard Paul snort and I rolled my eyes. To answer his question I made a noise that I thought most closely resembled yes and he smiled and looked at Paul. "Do you want me to tell the others that she is awake?"

Paul didn't look at him he just kept his eyes one me when he responded, "No, I'll let them know myself. And...Thanks again Carlisle."

Carlisle didn't say anything but he did keep his smile on his face as he left.

We sat there in silence for a while. I didn't mind. I enjoyed the feeling of Paul rubbing his thumb in circles on the back of my hand, but it seemed that Paul was angry and that he had something to say.

"I'm sorry." He started quietly, which was uncharacteristic for Paul. "I should have been paying more attention, and then this wouldn't have happened."

I wanted to tell him that it wasn't his fault, that all that had happened had been due to me being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was random. How could he have known what would have happened? I'm happy that he wasn't there. I don't know what would have happened if that lady would have hurt Paul too.

"I should have been watching the surroundings; I don't know what was wrong with me." He said shaking. "DAMN IT!" He screamed.

He was beating himself up because he felt guilty about what he couldn't' control and he was shaking again.

"That bitch! That Bitch!" He repeated over and over again. "Why wasn't I paying attention?"

The way he made it sound… was like he knew the lady who attacked me.

"That goddamn bloodsucker." He spat still shaking but it was getting worse. By this time he had stopped rubbing my hand and was gripping his knees.

All of a sudden Sam walked in looking as stern as ever. "Paul outside, now!" He snapped.

Paul looked at him and he looked like he was going to protest but he left anyway. Sam watched as Paul left and he made sure that he actually left the hospital so he could go calm down.

I watched as Sam came to sit down where Paul sat before he looked down as he tried to find the right words to say to me.

"I'm sorry that this happened to you." He said in his deep voice. "We failed on our part to protect you."

I didn't understand what he was talking about but by now I knew they had known who that lady was that attacked me. Was she some sort of serial killer? How long had she been in town? And why did she attack me? Those were all questions that I had burning inside me but I couldn't voice them.

As if he was seeing what I wanted explained to me on my face Sam looked down and sighed.

"Maya, we all have to tell you something."

I told you my day was going to be crap.


	16. Chapter 16

I blinked dumbly when Sam finished. He looked at me seriously and I knew I had stepped into something that I really didn't want to be a part of.

"You are serious." I mumbled watching him as he nodded his head swiftly.

"Yes, it is a part of our DNA."

"And the vampires?" I questioned as best I could since everything I said was muffled by the cast. "Are they born that way too? Or do they get turned the way they do in movies?"

Sam chuckled, "To be honest we know about as much as you do. From what we can tell, when a human is bitten by a vampire the turn into one or they die."

"And it's your duty to protect people from them?"

"Yes." He said as he nodded curtly again.

I turned my head away from him and tried to wrap my mind around it, but I just couldn't. How could someone just turn into a wolf? Why was it their specific duty to hunt vampires? Why was it Paul's?

It felt like something clicked in my head when I thought about Paul. The growling, the anger management issue, the freaky shaking. It made sense knowing that he was a giant wolf.

I closed my eyes; I didn't want to think about anything weird anymore. I didn't want to think about how I got attacked, Paul being a wolf, or the fact that I moved to this stupid town. I wanted to go home. I wanted to go back to San Francisco and be with my friends again. This was so much more than what I wanted or expected.

Sam seemed to sense that I didn't want him there, because he stood and said, "I'll give you time to gather your thoughts. Paul will probably come back to talk to you too."

I didn't look at him when he left. The last person that I wanted to see was Paul; the only person I did want to see was my mommy. If she was there she could make everything go back to normal, no matter how silly that she maybe. Mom could make this bad dream go away right?

I heard voice outside of my door.

"Is she awake?" A higher voice asked and I immediately recognized it as Seth's. This caused me to doubt what Sam was saying about the whole wolf thing. How could Seth turn into a monster? He wasn't angry like Paul and he was definitely too sweet for something like that to happen to him.

"She's resting right now. You can come and see her tomorrow but for now you all need to go home and get ready for patrol if you have it." I heard Sam order and my groan matched with the others that followed.

I whined pathetically as I closed my eyes hoping that when I woke up I would be at home in my bed.

Xxx

I woke to a warm hand holding mine while a thumb drew circles on the back of it. I opened my eyes slowly and saw that the sun had gone down. I didn't look at the person holding my hand; I already knew who it was.

"Sam told you." He said softly still stroking my hand.

I didn't respond, what was I supposed to say? Yeah he told me how you turn into a giant wolf and go around like a superhero and protect people from vampires.

I looked at him as best as I could from the side of my eyes and saw that he was watching me intently with those brown eyes of his. Even though I was injured because of a vampire even knowing what he was, it was still enough to make me flush.

"I'm sorry." He apologized as he kissed the back of my hand.

I groaned when I felt his lips touch me. I really don't want to be in the room with him. Sam told me that he is more volatile than the rest because of his temper. What if he got mad again like he did earlier and turned into a monster in here?

"Did he tell you about imprinting?" He asked even softer than before.

Imprinting? Was that something else I had to worry about? I was starting to feel even more uncomfortable then I did before.

I guess Paul took my silence as a no because he let out a shaky breath before he looked at me seriously.

"I don't know how to explain this." He started. "And I know that you probably don't even want to be around me right now and you'll probably hate me even more when I'm finished telling you."

I blocked out his voice as much as I possibly could but all I could hear was the smoothness of his deep voice ringing in my ears.

Maybe if I could call for the nurse I could get him to leave. If only I could get my hand back from him.

"I would do anything for you." He suddenly said with conviction causing me to worry a little, but he still hadn't let go. "I can be your friend, your brother, more." When he said that he looked at me a little hopefully but I kept my face blank. Was he making a joke? This wasn't some anime where people confess to each other; then again it was starting to feel like it was. I already had the heroes and villains the only thing that I was missing was the ridiculously short uniform skirt.

"Anything that you want me to be, I will be that for you."

That was great, he could be anything that some other girl wanted him to be all I wanted him to do was leave.

"I won't let anyone or anything hurt you again." He said his mood suddenly switching from weird Paul to angry Paul. "That blood sucker won't be able to ever get that close to you again."

Speaking of vampires, wasn't she saying something about my wolf boyfriend while she was trying to murder me! Did she have some kind of grudge against Paul, or maybe just it was just against the wolves in general.

"Are you okay with that?" He asked tentatively.

What was he asking me? Was I okay with being associated with vampires and werewolves? NO. Was I okay with the fact that at any possible moment that my mother or I could be killed and that our mortality rate just went through the roof? No. Or was he asking me was I okay with the fact that he picked this particular moment, when I am in a full body cast after just being attacked, to be his freaky wolf girlfriend? Hell NO.

I glared at him as best as I could from my cast, and even though I know it was weak I knew he got my meaning because he almost instantly let go of my hand.

"I know this is out of the blue and probably not what you want to hear-"

"Leave." I said cutting him off with my raspy voice.

It was silence between him and I for a good two minutes. He looked like someone had just kicked his puppy, but I didn't care. I didn't want to see him or his friends again, not if this was what it meant having them as friends. I shouldn't have to be risked being hospitalized because I want to go have pizza with someone.

"Why?" He sounded angry, but his eyes were hurt and that almost made me feel bad but I was thinking about the safety of myself and my mother.

"I don't want you to be my anything." I said as clearly as possible. "I want you to leave my mother and I alone. All of you."

My tone was final. There was no room for negotiations and I hoped that he realized that.

He was shaking again and I knew that I had made the right decision. This anger of his was irrational and he cannot even control himself. How could I be friends with this person or thing, whatever he was? At least with Sam, it seemed like he had control over himself.

"I don't want to leave." He said quietly, but his voice was teeming with anger and sadness?

"I don't care what you want." I said plainly. That seemed to send him over the edge because he stood up quickly causing the chair to flip over. Then he stormed out of the room.

I breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone. I knew I had done the right thing. The small family that I have is what comes first. I don't care about anyone else's feelings. My mother is all I have; I won't let Paul or anyone else jeopardize it.

Xxx

The next day for me seemed to go all downhill form the time that I woke up early that morning. Sam had told me all of what vampires looked like. How they moved, sounded, how beautiful they were. And from the moment I saw my doctor, Dr. Cullen, I knew he was a vampire. It was strange though, he didn't act like the red head. He even had different colored eyes than she did. What bothered me the most was the fact that he had decided to become a doctor. Did he want to suck on his patients' blood? Was he planning on turning them into some kind of evil undead doctor army?

At the current moment he was filling out something on my chart. I watched him as best as I could from my position and tried to make my eyes as not suspicious as possible, but it didn't work.

He chuckled after a while and turned to me and smiled. He had a nice smile and he didn't even have pointy teeth, kind of a rip off if you ask me. How can you be a vampire if you don't have fangs? Is it to make the kill hurt as much as possible? Because with those dull things you it would be like cutting yourself with a butter knife, it's going to hurt like fuck.

"Is there something that you want to ask me?" He questioned looking at me with a gentle look on his face.

"Why are you a doctor?" I said as soon as he finished. That seemed to get him to laugh more; he was just a happy monster thing wasn't he?

"I'm a doctor because I like helping people like you." He said simply as he checked the levels of morphine that were pumping into me.

"If you want to help some people why don't you go and like save people from like disaster and stuff?" I asked him curiously even though my throat was killing me. "Can vampires be killed by tornados?"

He seemed a bit taken aback by the boldness of my last question but he was more than happy to answer it.

"My talents lie in the field of medicine, being a doctor is the most rewarding way for me to help people." He said with another one of his beautiful smiles. "As far as the tornado, I cannot tell you for sure."

"You are very nice you know." I said looking at him skeptically but I could feel the morphine starting to do its job so my words sounded a bit slurred. "The red haired lady wasn't so nice."

"Red-haired lady?" He asked alarmed. "She was the one who did this to you?"

"Yeah." I said looking back up at the ceiling and closing my eyes sleepily. "She messed up my house too."

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

"It's not your fault, or maybe it is." I said looking at him with one eye. "Did you tell her to get me?"

"No." He said simply.

"Then we are friends right?" I questioned closing my other eye. "Because I don't have any friends anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that." And he did sound sorry or at least I think he did. I couldn't tell any more the morphine was really getting to me.

"Yeah me too."


	17. Chapter 17

I got most of my cast off the next week and it was instead replaced with a back brace, but it was still much better than the cast would ever be. The only part that I still had on was the one for my leg and that I could live with, since I got this wheel chair to go with it.

My mom had been visiting me every day since I woke up and I was so happy to see her when she came.

I wasn't surprised that she had no idea about the wolves since the only reason that I had been told was because of how much the vampire had interacted with me. However, the excuse that they told my mother was ridiculous and yet she believed it.

"A bear?" I asked with a slightly raised eyebrow while I watched my mother poke my Jell-O with a Spork.

"Yeah, that is what Sam told me happened anyway." She said brining the utensil to her mouth.

"And it attacked me why?" I asked really wanting to know what kind of excused they were going to give.

"Sam said that they found the peanut butter on the counter and that sometimes when bears are really hungry that they just go for whatever it is that they smell." She said with a shrug.

"So a bear broke into the house for peanut butter and he attacked me because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then he hit me so hard that I went all the way into the forest." I said retelling the story and I watched her nod signaling that I had gotten it correct.

I rolled my eyes and pushed the hospital food onto the tray next to me, letting my mother have the rest of it. As nonchalant as she was about everything I knew that she had been worried about me. She had some slight bags under her eyes and her usually radiant brown skin had seemed to be much paler then it had been two weeks earlier.

"You seem like you are in a mood." She mumbled as she picked at the macaroni on the plate. "Is it because none of you friends came to visit?"

"They aren't my friends!" I snapped at her causing her to scoff. "I told them I didn't want them coming around anyway."

"Well it seemed to me like you were friends." She said looking at me. "Especially with Paul."

The mention of his name had caused me to groan. Even though I wasn't sorry about the fact that I told him that I hadn't wanted to see him again, when I slept I could still see the hurt look in his eyes and my heart break a little each time. Paul wasn't supposed to look like that, like everything had been taken away from him. It just didn't suit him; even I could tell that even though I hadn't been here long.

"About them, mom." I mumbled sliding myself from the bed into my wheel chair painfully. She stood up to help me but I shook my head as best as I could in my brace. "I don't think that we should talk about them any more either. They aren't the best type of people for us to be hanging around. In fact I think we should move, especially if we are close to an area where bears can just come into the house like that."

"Why?" She asked bewildered. "What happened between you guys? The last time that I saw you two together you guys looked happy together."

"There is no reason really, nothing that you should be worried about anyway." I said rolling myself over to the window and looking out at the gray sky, it was going to rain. "I just found out they aren't the people that we should associate ourselves with is all."

"Whatever you say." She said quietly as she came over and kissed me on the forehead and left quietly, I could tell that she didn't want to talk about it. She didn't have the usual energy in her voice that she did. It was my fault too; I knew that I hadn't been the happiest person since I found out about the others.

"Knock Knock." A happy voice said from the door way.

I didn't have to turn around to know that it was Doctor Cullen; he was the only person besides my mother and the nurses that came to see me.

"How are you today Maya." He asked standing next to me.

I looked him in his honey colored eyes that were very kind and beautiful. _'But they are nothing compared to Paul's.'_

I bit my tongue immediately as the thought came. Ever since that night I had been having thoughts like that about him. I compared every nurse and doctor I saw to him, no matter if they were female or male. It was actually becoming a little creepy and a lot annoying.

"I feel the same as I did yesterday, like shit." I said plainly finally tearing my gaze away from his. I only got a chuckled in reply but he patted my shoulder and I almost flinched at the contact but after a week of him examining me I was starting to get used to it.

"Did you know that they told my mother that a bear attacked me because he wanted peanut butter?" I asked plainly. "And that she believed it."

"What would you have rather them say?"

"It's not the fact that they told her that a beat did it, it's the fact that she believed it." I said almost pouting. "Sometimes I really wonder what the hell is going on in my mom's head."

"It's not that she particularly believed the story." He said as he sat on my bed. I wheeled my chair to watch him. "Everyone needs to be told something when a tragedy happens, no matter what it is that they are told. People just need an explanation so they aren't wondering all of the time. It's how people cope with situation."

"I guess." I mumbled looking at my bare foot suddenly finding that I could wiggle my left foot very interesting. "Is that why they told me about the werewolf thing? Did they think that they would help me to cope?"

"I suppose."

"But it just made it worse!" I said slightly angry. "They could have told me something else, anything else, but..."

I couldn't finish what I had to say because I didn't know what I wanted to say. Lately I was having a hard time expressing myself. Carlisle seemed to think that it was because I was still in a slight state of shock, that because my mind and my body still comprehend what happened to me, I had sub consciously put one some type of barrier up.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" He asked quietly as he saw my face change showing that I was wrapped up in my thoughts. "You are healing remarkably fast."

"And I wonder why that is." I said with a roll of my eyes.

Carlisle told me earlier that week that he had discovered something in my blood tests. That while he had been sure that he had gotten most of the vampire venom out of my system there was still some left. That little was making me heal ridiculously fast, so soon I should be out of this hospital or at least able to walk on my own to the bathroom.

Carlisle laughed again; he seemed to do that a lot around me. I was starting to think it was because he was able to relax a little more around me then he was with the others, since I knew about his drinking habit and all.

"It is true that the venom is helping, but in a week or two it should be out of your system and then you'll be subject to the normal healing rate."

"I'd kill for normal right now." I mumbled and watched him smile slightly.

He stood and rolled my chair back over to the bed, where he helped me out of it and into my bed so he could give me my next round of morphine before this one wore completely off.

"You could have normal if you want." He said as he gently pushed the needle into my skin causing me to whimper slightly but I was quieted almost instantly when the liquid entered me. My eyes quickly began to feel heavy and I felt myself drift off. "But then, what fun would that be?"

Xxx

It was Thursday of the next week when I got a pleasant surprise. My mother had been bringing me my homework every day since I was able to write, and it was a shit ton to do and it all took forever. Those two things combined were enough to make me space out for an hour or two before calling it quits.

I sighed as I closed my eyes happy that for the first time in the past three weeks that I have been able to feel the back on a bed. I had gotten my brace off on Wednesday and it was the best thing ever.

A knock sounded on the door which caused me to open an eye suspiciously. Usually the only person who "knocks" is Carlisle. My mother and the nurses barged whenever they felt like it.

"Come in." I said cautiously as I opened both eyes and sat up.

An extremely tall body walked into the room. It was clearly a male whose face was hidden by a big vase of daisies. Yet the russet skin told me that it was clearly one of the wolves.

"Surprise!" The figure said as he moved the vase away from his face. There stood Seth in all of his cuteness and dimples showing because of his wide smile.

"Seth!" I said with wide eyes as I watched him put the flowers on the desk near the table and pull up a chair and sit next to me. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I know you told Paul that you didn't want to see him, but I figured that didn't really apply to the rest of us. So I wanted to come visit you." He said happily. "I'm sorry that it took so long for me to get down here, every time I thought about wanting to visit you I got yelled at and I had a ton of homework due..."

I watched him babel on. He was so happy it was liked nothing had changed for him. Did he not see that just because I said those words to Paul didn't mean that I wanted to see him or the others?

"Oh speaking of homework..." He said pulling pieces of folded paper out of his pocket and straightening them out so they would lie on the desk. "I ran into the hall and your mom gave me your homework."

"Thanks." I mumbled. "You can, uh, go now."

He looked a little put off. "So you were serious about that stuff you said to Paul then? You don't want to see him or us?"

"Yes I was serious!" I said raising my voice slightly. "Looked what happened. I've been here in the hospital for three weeks because some crazy vampire chick tried to eat me!"

"But that's not our fault!" He pleaded.

"Then whose fault is it?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms. "You guys are the ones who hunt those things right? You turn into wolf monsters right?"

"We aren't monsters." Seth said angrily but he also looked a little sad. It was probably a little hash to call him a monster but that is what he was right? A werewolf?

"Then what are you?"

"We protect people." He said softly. "Family, friends and loved ones. We could protect you too."

"Really?" I said as I rolled my eyes.

"What is it that you don't like about us being werewolves?" He asked suddenly.

"I..." I didn't know what to say. What was it that I didn't like? They hadn't actually done anything wrong. The person in the wrong was the crazy vampire lady.

"Well?" He asked eagerly seeing that I wasn't coming up with an easy answer.

"It's not safe?" I asked lamely which caused Seth to chuckle and me to flush a little. He wasn't supposed to make fun of me.

"Like I said earlier we can protect you." He said making his case. "What happened to you was an accident, but we should have seen it coming. But look at Emily and Kim they are perfectley safe."

"Emily and Kim know about this?" I asked dumbly.

"Of course they do they're imprints, like you." He said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Imprints." I mumbled thinking about when Paul was muttering some nonsense about being my friend.

"I know that it doesn't seem like the best thing in the world now, to be friends with us I mean, but give it a chance. And before you know it we'll all be like a second family." He said with conviction in his eyes.

I looked in his eyes for a moment and almost considered saying no but then I remembered how lonely I had been over the past few weeks. I could use some friends, even if they were werewolves and weirdoes. And it wasn't like he was saying that I had to sell my soul to them or join any cult.

I bit my lip before I sighed. "All right, I'll try I guess."


	18. Chapter 18

I sighed as Carlisle rolled me down the cold halls of the hospital, and his body temperature, or lack thereof, wasn't helping either. Today was the day that I was getting out of the hospital. I was excited because I got to go home and I convinced Carlisle to give me a cane instead of crutches, because I thought it was cooler.

One thing that did have me irritated though was the fact that I knew that Seth would be there with my mom to greet me as soon as we exited the hospital. He had visited me almost every day since I said I would try and be okay with their lycanthropy. His persistence however was really starting to irritate me. How was I supposed to be okay with something if he kept trying to force it on me?

Both Seth and my mom where their when doctor Cullen wheeled me out to the front entrance of the hospital.

"And here she is." Carlisle said as the wheel chair came to a stop. I would have smiled but Seth was there with a big cheesy grin on his face and my mom had one on too. I would have thought they were both happy that I got out of the hospital but my mother had a glint in her eye like she knew something that I didn't and it was really starting to bother me.

I didn't notice that Carlisle had started to walk away I just knew that Seth's warm body had replaced his I could feel the heat radiating off of him while he rolled me to the car. On one hand I was grateful for the warmth because it was ridiculously cold outside and on the other I was irritated. I really didn't know what more from me that he wanted. I already told him that I would try and accept it, but that didn't meant that my acceptance would come so easily.

I winced slightly as Seth helped me in to my mom's tall Escalade.

"You okay?" He asked with a sincere smile causing his dimples to show slightly.

"I'm fine." I mumbled quickly turning my eyes away from him. I used to think he was cute with his dimples, he looked like a little boy, but now all I think about when I see him is a giant wolf with dimples. Can wolves have dimples?

Seth got in the front seat with mom and I started to doze off. The painkillers I was on still made me ridiculously sleepy.

Xxx

When I woke up in my room I saw a plastic black nose staring back at me, along with big brown soulless eyes and white fur.

"What the hell!" I screamed scrambling back and hitting my head on the headboard of my bed. "Ow!"

I winced slightly as I used my hand to rub the back of my head. I heard footsteps pad up the stairs and my mom opened the door with a slightly worried look on her face. She chuckled when she saw that I was rubbing the back of my head. She didn't even have to guess that I had hit it on the wooden board. I had a history.

"What's wrong now?" She said still chuckling.

"There is a demonic bear!" I said pointing at the large white stuffed animal that was placed on the side of the bed. The bear sat up straight, and had a red bow tied around its neck with some sort of tag sticking up from the side of it. "Did you buy that thing?"

"It wasn't me." She said throwing her hands up innocently, which probably wasn't likely because she did so many weird things. "It was that boy."

"What boy?" I asked with an arched eyebrow.

"You know the one that doesn't wear a shirt." She says rocking back and forth on her heels. "And that happens to be really hot and he likes to eat my steak."

"Paul!"

"That's the one." She said with a smile.

"I thought I told you I didn't want him coming around here anymore!"

"First off that isn't what you said. You said that you didn't want us to hang around him anymore. And I don't think that really applies to me because I don't hang around underage boys willingly, despite what you might think." She said pointedly. "Secondly, I couldn't not let him give it to you. You didn't see the look on that boys face."

"I don't care what-"

"Why are you so mean?" She suddenly yelled out. "I couldn't live with myself if I broke such a beautiful boy's heart and you act like you don't care."

I watched as she rambled on something about kindness and baring her beautiful grandchildren. It was getting extremely awkward and annoying and I really wanted to go back to sleep. I was starting to get a headache.

"Okay mom." I started wanting to appease her. "I'll try and be nicer."

"Appeasement doesn't work in war and it won't work here." She yelled suddenly pointing in my face. "You got hurt for no reason and both you and that boy know why and you won't tell me."

"What are we talking about again?" I said rubbing my forehead.

"Did you seriously think that I would believe that stupid story about the bears and the peanut butter?" She scoffed crossing her arms over her chest. "I may be a little out of it but that doesn't mean I'm stupid. Tell me what really happened!"

I averted my eyes from her. I knew that stupid story wouldn't work; they could have just said something about a crazy serial killer. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not." I said looking down.

Suddenly I felt my mom's around me and she squeezed me tightly. I could hear her sniffling and I felt my heart drop. As painful as it was I still wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back.

"Don't lie to me anymore okay?" She said quietly. "I tried to get it out of that boy. That's the real reason that I let him in was to try and get the truth out of him but he wouldn't say a word."

"I'm sorry mom." I mumbled into her shoulder. "It's not my secret to tell."

I felt her nod and she pulled away from. "I figured as much." She said wiping her teary eyes. "But please don't get hurt again you're the only thing that I have, so please."

"I'll try."

"Okay." She said softly as she stood. "I'm going to go clean myself up a bit, okay? Do you want some soup or anything?"

"Soup is fine."

I watched as she nodded and started walking out of the room.

"I love you mom." I called after her.

"I love you too, baby."

Xxx

The next day was probably the hardest day for me. My mother had left to go out and do some retail therapy and that gave me the whole day to myself. As wonderful as peace and quiet were it was still unbelievably hard to come down the stairs on my own. That means that for twenty minutes I straddled the wall trying to get down stairs but with no luck.

I hobbled my way back to my room where I plopped back down on my bed and groaned when my stomach grumbled. Sighing I rolled on my side and found myself face to face with the demon bear that Paul had given me. I glared at it for a good five minutes wanting to punch it in the face but as soon as I lifted my fist to its face I found myself dropping it. The bear wasn't that bad it was actually sort of cute.

I reached over and pulled the large bear onto my bead and held it up over my head to give it another once over. It was actually really cute. It supposed that it was supposed to be some sort of polar bear, but the red scarf threw me for a loop, what kind of bear need a scarf?

I rocked the bear back and forth but then I stopped. The tag that stuck out of the scarf had caught my attention. Sitting up I placed the bear in front of me and flipped the tag over. It had scratched out writing on it. I ripped the tag from the bear and brought it closer for me to read. While there wasn't much writing on the actual tag, it seemed like Paul started to say a lot but he scratched all out, there was a phrase on there that was legible.

_'I'm Sorry.'_

I rolled my eyes and threw the tag somewhere across the room. "He should be sorry" I said glaring at the ceiling. "Getting me involved in this mess."

And then that annoying little voice popped into my head saying _'Well he didn't actually get you involved. It sort of just happened. It wasn't his fault.'_

Wanting to beat myself in my head I yelled back, to myself, "HE TURNS INTO A GIANT WOLF!"

_'It's not his fault, he was born that way.'_

"But still-"

_'But nothing, you should call him'_

"Why?"

_'Because you were cruel to him'_

"I was in the hospital!"

_'And?'_

I didn't have an answer for that one, and why was I talking to myself? I should probably get to the mental hospital or something because that whole conversation was really unhealthy.

I grabbed my phone from the night stand and dialed Paul's number. I had planned to think about what I was going to say while the phone range but it only rang twice before he picked up the phone.

"Hello? Maya?" He questioned almost frantically.

I didn't know what to say I hadn't expected him to answer in all honesty. I thought He would be angry at me. What should I say?

"Maya, are you there?"

"You should come over." That was the only thing that I got out of my mouth before I pressed end on my phone and threw it away from like it had some kind of disease.

I found myself breathing heavy and my hands were shaking. Why had I been so nervous? Was it because I thought he would hate me because of the things that I said? And what the hell kind of thing was that to say? 'You should come over.' He probably thinks I'm crazy.

I sat on my bed for ten minutes staring at that cute demon bear. I bet it was his cuteness that drove me to do something stupid like that.

_'That or the demon is possessing me!' _

Just as I was about to get up and call an exorcist I heard a rapid knocking at the door. I hobbled over to my balcony and opened the door. Looking down I saw Paul waiting anxiously at the front door.

"Paul!" I called to him and he immediately looked up when I called his name. And I swear I felt my breath catch in my chest. How was it possible he looked even better than he did before? He slightly smiled at me when he saw me.

"Are you going to open the door?" He questioned.

"I can't come down stairs." I said sheepishly feeling my face heat up.

"Why not?" He asked coming to stand underneath my balcony.

"It's hard." I mumbled but he seemed to hear me because he started chuckling.

"Stand back."

"Why?"

He didn't answer the question because he literally did some weird flips and scaled up the side of my wall and was on my balcony. He almost bumped into me and I'm guessing that was the reason that He told me to stand back.

When he finally came to stand in front of me he smiled and I couldn't help but smile back. He really did have a nice smile.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked almost softly and then I remembered what I told him at the hospital.

"I-I." What did I call him over here for? Nothing really, part of me just wanted to see him and apologize for being rude. The apology thing can come later though. "I wish to exploit you!"

"What?" He asked furrowing his eyebrows.

I turned away from him and started hobbling back into my room I made my way to the stair case and looked down. It was like a really large hill and I was five year child with short legs.

"I can't get down the stairs and I'm hungry." I said pouting.

He laughed, "So you really did call me over here to take advantage of me."

I didn't get a chance to retort because I was picked up and carried down stairs. He was so warm. It was like he was made to be a heater or something. I looked up at his face and flushed when I saw his eyes were on me.

"Shouldn't you be watching were you're going?" I mumbled averting my eyes. We had made it down stairs and he was placing me down on the couch.

"I'm not as clumsy as some. I can look away from something for more than five seconds and not fall flat on my face." He said with a smirk.

"Hey!" I said reaching for a pillow to throw at him. "I've never fallen in front of you."

"You don't know that." He said walking into the kitchen. "What do you want to eat?"

When he asked I almost immediately dropped the sneaking suspicion that he had been watching me.

"You- you're going to cook for me?" I questioned looking over at him.

"That why you called me over right?" He said looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"No not really." I said looking down. "I just needed help getting down the stairs."

"Oh, well I'll cook anyway."

"Why are you being so nice to me anyway?" I mumbled looking down.

"What do you mean?" He asked going through the refrigerator.

"I told you that I didn't want to see you. And now you're acting like nothing ever happened. Which I find hard to believe because you have a worse temper than Bruce Banner."

Paul sighed and came from the kitchen to sit next to me on the couch.

"You remember what I told you right? That night you told me to leave?" he asked looking at me intently with his chocolate eyes.

I wracked my brain trying to remember. "Something about infants?"

He chuckled. "Imprint. I told you I would do anything for you right?"

"Yeah."

"Then don't worry about it."


	19. Chapter 19

"So you really can cook." I said looking at the breakfast that he placed in front of me in astonishment. I hadn't had a real home cooked breakfast in so long. Usually I don't let my mom cook because most of the time it's poison and I don't have time to cook for myself in the morning.

"What?" He questioned with a smirk as he sat across from me at the table. "You doubted my skills?"

"If I say that I wasn't then I'd be a liar." I said under my breath forgetting about his "superior" hearing.

"I heard that." He said shoving a fork-full of eggs in his mouth.

I watched in semi disgust and astonishment as he almost instantly inhaled five pancakes, three pieces of thick cut bacon, eggs, and four sausages.

"You're just a bottomless pit aren't you?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" He asked chugging down some orange juice. "This'll barely get me through lunch."

At his comment I swear I felt my eyebrow twitch. Deciding not to question him further on his strange eating habits I lift a piece of pancake to my mouth to eat, deciding it would probably be best to eat before I became even more disgusted.

As I finished my meal it was almost completely silent, except for Paul constantly moving in his chair. He was probably getting restless because we had been sitting in the same spot for so long.

"Thanks for cooking for me." I said quietly when he stood up to take my plate away. He didn't say anything but he did smirk at me, a trait that I found mildly annoying but extremely attractive.

"So what did you want to do now?" He questioned as he came back.

I looked at the clock that hung in the dining room and saw that it was only eleven and shrugged my shoulders.

"There's not too much that I want to or can do, to be honest."

"Really?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What were you expecting me to say?" I asked looking at him curiously.

"We'll I thought you would want to talk about, you know, the whole wolf thing." He said shrugging a little awkwardly.

I looked at him blankly, in truth I really did want to talk about it but how are you supposed to bring that up? 'Hey so have you always turned into a giant fluffy monster or is that a new hobby?' That just seemed a little inappropriate.

"We'll I guess I do want to hear a little about it." I mumbled

Paul looked a little relieved and that made me raise my eyebrow slightly.

"Did I say something right?" I asked sarcastically.

He chuckled and said, "Sam says that as long as you're willing to talk about it you don't completely hate me."

"I wouldn't have called you over here if I hated you." I said pushing myself up from the table and starting to hobble my way into the living room. Sitting at the table made me feel like we're discussing an agreement, it was too serious. "Seth made it nearly impossible for me to hate any of you."

He looked a little upset that I mentioned Seth, but what was I supposed to do? Lie and say that it wasn't thanks to Seth that I wasn't screaming my head off?

I plopped down on the brown couch and sighed as I caught my breath as best as I could, hobbling takes a lot of energy.

Paul was quick to join me and he sat as close as he possibly could without invading my personal bubble of protection. I eyed him quickly noticing the slightly nervous behavior that he showed. I didn't like it. I took a pillow and chucked it at his head.

"What was that for?" He questioned as he blinked unfazed.

"I don't like how you're acting." I said bluntly. "This kind of attitude doesn't suit you, it's like you're afraid or something."

"How should I act then?" He questioned with a slight edge in his voice. "I told someone that I would do anything for them, and they told me that they never wanted to see me again. So forgive me if I'm a little nervous this time."

"Maybe you should stop being such a wuss." I said in mock serious but that didn't seem to register in Paul's mind and I swore I heard him growl slightly and that made me smirk slightly. It was better if he was angry then nervous, it suited him much better.

"I'm the wuss?" He questioned with acid lacing his tone. "Are you kidding me?! Do you know how bad I wanted to come see you?!"

I opened my mouth to tell him to calm down and that I had only been joking but the look on his face told me saying anything at this point would only serve to make the situation worse.

"Every single day I wanted to come see you, but I didn't because I knew if I showed up you would probably hate me. Or at least I thought you would have seeing as you don't hate Seth!" He nearly shouted as he spitting Seth's name. "And to make matters worse you didn't tell him to stop, it was like it didn't matter if he came, like he was an exception!"

I sat quietly as Paul continued his rant. I realized I had hurt him, and that made me feel worse about the situation then I already did. At the time I couldn't have cared less if I had hurt his feelings, but looking back at the situation I realized that my actions were out of shock and completely, to some extent, irrational. It was okay for Seth to come and see me, and I didn't scream my head off every time that doctor Cullen came to help me. So why was it different with Paul? Looking at it from his point of view, it was completely unfair.

"...And you're supposed to be mine you know?!" He said glaring at me.

"You've said that before." I mumble not meeting his eyes.

"Then why do you like Seth?"

"I don't." I said looking at him.

He stared at me for a moment, I knew he was skeptical. If I was him I would be to my behavior does contradict what I just said.

"To be honest the only reason that I think that I'm closer to Seth, is because he seems the most normal." I said honestly. The anger that he had seemed to dissipate slightly. "He was the first person that I met after all. It's true that Quil and Embry where there but Quil hit on me the second that he opened his mouth and Embry was quiet, too quiet. And you know what they say about the quite ones right."

"I'm normal!" He said in response, not having anything better to say.

"Oh really?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah!"

"Is it or is it not true that you literally growled and stared at me the first time that we met?"

"Well..."

"Or how about the first time that you drove me home you somehow knew where my house was?"

"That..."

"If you want me to tell you the truth then I will." I said sitting up as best as I could so I was facing him, but that put me in an uncomfortable position with my legs. Seeing my uncomfortable situation Paul quickly took my legs and put them on his lap. I felt my cheeks burn as he scooted closer to me and started rubbing his hand slowly up and down my left leg. "I like you."

Paul started to grin.

"But at the same time I'm slightly afraid, and you can't blame me for that." I said feeling slightly bad that his smile went away as quickly as it came. "I mean the first time that we were alone together you and I got into an argument. I had never seen someone get so angry so quickly."

Paul didn't say anything, though he did look slightly sad.

"And then after getting attacked by a vampire! A fucking vampire! I find out that you are a werewolf. You can't expect me just to be instantly okay with that!" I said my voice slightly elevated.

His hand stopped moving and I was relieved that I could concentrate on talking but sad that he stopped. It was enough that he kept his hand on my leg though.

"I-" He started but I didn't let him finish.

"And then not only do you tell me that you are a werewolf but that you've imprinted on me as well, something that I'm still not clear on." I said staring at him as his breath hitched slightly. "And the thing that probably scares me most is the fact that I still really, really like you. Even though I don't know why."

You know that look on a kid's face when he gets that present that he wanted for Christmas? You know the one that he spent the whole month of November and December being good for? That was the look on Paul's face, well except for the good kid part. I have a feeling that Paul was bad even as a child.

We stared at each other for what seemed like ages after my confession. Wasn't he supposed to say something back? Like, 'I like you too. Now let me stick my tongue down your throat.'

I did notice that the rubbing continued though. It was slower than it was before and he was rubbing his thumb in slow circles. I swear I felt shivers go up and down my spine.

"Stop it." I whined looking at him with a slight pout.

"Stop what?"

"You know what!" I snapped. "You've been rubbing my leg since we started talking and it's really distracting."

"Is it?" He questioned as a sly smirk started to crawl across his face. He started to rub more noticeably on my legs, until it turned in to a full blown massage. I let my glare falter slightly, I did love massages.

"So, you like me too right?" I asked braver then I actually was at the moment.

I swear that my head hit the back of the couch so fast that my vision went black for a second.

Paul had smashed his lips onto mine. I didn't respond at first still stunned by the force that I had been slammed down against the couch with and the fact that he was kissing me in the first place.

"You gotta kiss me back babe." He mumbled against my lips and my cheeks burned.

I moved my lips as best as I could against his, but my inexperience was shining through. He chuckled a bit and pulled away from, before he laid a kiss on my forehead. He moved his warm body I top of mine and his dark eyes stared deep into mine.

"If I told you how I felt about you, you'd probably run away from me." He almost whispered.

"But according to what you said, or at least how I understood it, you only like me because of this imprinting thing, right? You didn't choose to like me, right?" I asked looking at him in the eye as I caught my breath.

He looked a little sadden by my choice in words but it was the truth right? He didn't choose me, this imprinting thing did.

"I don't want you to think that the imprint is forcing me to like you." He mumbled.

"But it is isn't it? Would you have liked me any other way?" I asked him skeptically.

He moved off of me and back into a sitting position. "Probably not." He said looking down. "But now I can't imagine what it would be like if I had never met you."

I eyed him skeptically, how should I feel knowing that it was something beyond both of our control that had seemingly "brought us together". Would something like that really work out in the end? And isn't it just forced on our part, we should have at least if have a choice in the matter.

"I don't know if I believe that it is right for us to be basically forced to be together. I mean what if there is someone who is ridiculously better for you then I am?" I finally said breaking the silence. "And personally I don't know if I would want me. I know that I can be difficult and I tend to run a lot so there is no guarantee that I will stay with you the way you want me too, no matter if this is fated or not."

"Then I'd make you stay with me." He said simply as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Oh really?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course. The others would give there imprint a choice and say something stupid like they could just be best friends or like brother and sister, but I know I can't say something like that." He said a little intensely. "I'm selfish so I won't give you a choice especially since I know that you want me too."

"I don't understand how you can just assume that I want you, because I want you." I said looking at him.

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"I mean because of the imprinting you don't know if I really want you or not. It's not real love."

He looked at me for a moment and I hopped that he was considering what I said, but I was disappointed when he said, "I don't believe it. There is no way that this can't be real."

"You're really naïve." I said looking at him. "I would have never imagined that someone like you would be so optimistic."

He smirked, "Only when I'm trying to convince you that I really do want you."

I blushed again and lifted my hand to my face in an attempt to hide it but failed miserably because he started chuckling at me.

"You're so cute." He whispered and leaned in closer to lay another soft kiss on my lips. I immediately shut my eyes and gave into it. It was much softer than the last one and had much more feeling to it than I thought possible. I groaned when he lightly bit my bottom lip and pulled away again.

My eyes were slightly hooded and he smirked again. "Tell me what you're feeling right now isn't real." He whispered looking me over.

I opened my mouth to say something but I didn't know what to say. I couldn't deny my slightly sweaty palms or the fact that my heart was beating a million miles per minute. His sly smirk seemed to stretch even further across his face.

"That's what I thought." He murmured before he pushed me back down on my couch and smashed his lips against mine once again.


	20. Chapter 20

I stared at the rust colored school building, dreading the thought that I had to go in. It had been a week since the time that Paul and I had kissed, and I hadn't seen him since then. I had talked to him on the phone though; apparently the wolves were busy chasing the red haired vampire lady that attacked me.

Today was also the first time that I would be back in school since the attack. I looked back at my mom, who was looking at her nails and talking animatedly on her phone through her ear piece.

"Bye." I said quietly as I slipped out of the car placing the rubber end of my can down firmly on the pavement. No sooner than I had my entire body out of the car did my mom speed away quickly from the parking lot.

Shaking my head I sighed. "I guess it's time to go in." I said to myself as I watched more and more students start to arrive.

I started on my hobbling mission to at least reach the inside of the school before I got tired. Needless to say, I got weird glances from people because of my cane, yet for some reason I didn't really seem to mind. The cane made me feel like I had weapon I could use if anyone said anything to me, so their glares seemed to just roll off of my shoulders.

I sighed happily as I reached the familiar sight of my locker. I shrugged my shoulder and let the back pack slide down my arm so I could hang it on one of the hooks inside. Grabbing my English book I closed the door.

Starting down the hall, I started to relax slightly. _'Maybe today won't be as bad as I thought it would'_

Yet, like some kind of cliché karma I felt myself falling quickly. As I landed I groaned slightly as I felt my chin hit the linoleum.

"Oops, didn't see you there cripple." A snide voice called from above me. I rolled my eyes not having to look up to know who the voice belonged too. I hadn't spoken to her that many times, but when a voice is that annoying you tend not to forget it.

"You know calling me crippled is really offending to those who actually have physical handicaps right?" I mumbled as I started to pull myself up to my knees. I grabbed my cane and pulled myself up into a standing position and looked Yvone in her brown eyes. She had a frown on her slightly full lips bur she didn't do anything but roll her eyes.

"You're weird you know that right?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "And I have absolutely no idea why Paul chose you."

"It's probably because I'm not afraid to hit a tall bitch in the shins with my cane." I said quickly looking at her exposed legs which were in perfect range of my cane and back up to her face. Her eyes had bugged out a little but she snarled at me again.

"Freak!" She yelled causing a few people to stop in the hallway before they kept on their way. She kicked my English book down the hallway before she turned away. I groaned mentally and began to hobble my way after it, which was proving to be more of a challenge then what it seemed it would be. Apparently no one saw the book or the injured girl chasing it around desperately in the hallway, so they just kept kicking it around the hall.

I finally cornered the book in a section of the hallway and was close to picking it up when a pale hand beat me to it. I traced the hand up the arm and to the face of a boy. The boy had cut black hair and muddy brown eyes.

"Here you go." He said with a smile.

I blinked at him dumbly for a moment before taking my book. "Thanks." I mumbled eyeing him skeptically. I backed away from him slowly and started to make my way back to class.

As I was walking I looked back and saw the boys' eyes still behind me at the same place. I understood that I was slow because I was injured but it was like I hadn't moved at all, and he was getting closer.

"Are you following me?" I asked him narrowing my eyes. I prepared myself to strike him with my cane but he quickly shook his head.

"I have class this way." He said slightly laughing at me when he saw my hand tighten on the handle of the cane.

"Likely story." I said starting to walk again and I frowned when I heard the boy laugh at me.

"My name is Hunter by the way." He said casually as he continued to walk beside me.

"That's nice." I grumbled still hobbling and a little upset that anyone was witnessing my struggle to get to class.

"I would like to know your name too." He said smiling at me.

"I'm sure that you would."

He sighed, "I'm going to ignore your rudeness and assume it's just because Yvone pissed you off."

"That's nice of you." I said trying to ignore him even though he was still following me.

"You're the one going out with Paul right?" He questioned causing me to stop in the middle of the hallway. "Now that I've met you it makes more sense."

"I'm not going out with Paul." I said slightly glaring at him. Sure we kissed, a few delicious times, while we were alone in my house, but I hadn't agreed to be his girlfriend, yet. "Who told you that?"

"Zoe." He said simply as he shrugged his shoulders. "A long with some other stuff."

That definitely got my attention. "What other stuff?"

"Things that I now know are lies, especially after meeting you."

"What does that mean?" I asked arching an eyebrow.

"Nothing you need to worry about." He said starting to walk away. "I'll see you around, Maya!"

I blinked dumbly, "You already knew my name?"

"Duh!" He called back slightly smirking. "There aren't many non-natives here you know? It would make sense that I would know your name."

"Um...Okay." I mumble, feeling slightly bad that I didn't know his.

I watched his retreating back for a while longer before I hurriedly hobbled to my English class.

Walking in, I sighed in relief as I noticed the teacher hadn't entered the class room yet. I looked around for an empty seat and realized that everyone was giving me a strange look.

"What!" I snapped getting irritated quickly with the unwanted stares. It seemed to snap them out of their trance as they hesitantly returned to their conversations, all except one. A strawberry blonde head bobbed slightly up and down to the music that was playing in her ear bud.

Zoe's green eyes glared at me as a smirk quickly found its way to her lips. I held her gaze for a second before turning away and making my way towards a seat that was in the back of the classroom.

The desk that I sat at was on the opposite wall that the windows were and had all types of writing and gum stuck to it. I openly gagged before I shrugged off my tan jacket and placing it on the equally disgusting chair. I placed my English book on the desk. I sighed as I started to relax in the chair, yet my impending peace was disturbed when I felt a pair of eyes looking at me.

I looked up and saw two light brown eyes trying to stealthily steal glances at me.

"Can I help you?" I snapped at the russet skinned boy who quickly turned his gaze back to the front of the class room I sighed in relief when the bell for class finally rang and the teacher finally came stumbling in.

Today would be a long day.

Xxx

I scanned over the lunch room and looked for a place to sit. It felt like it was the first day of school all over again. The only difference was this time all of the students, or what seemed like all of them, seemed to kind of hate me for some reason. Maybe hate wasn't the right word. It was more like they were judging me.

I let my eyes scan over the cafeteria once more before I saw the familiar sight of two large man-boys sitting at a table with a tiny girl beside them. I hobbled as quickly as I could over to them and was happy when I arrived at the table and they actually seemed pleased to see me.

"Maya!" Seth said as he hopped up to give me a large hug and he was careful not to squeeze too tight. "You look so much better!"

"Thanks." I said mumbling into his shoulder.

I smiled as he sat down and I waved to Embry and Kim who both had smiles on their faces.

"I'm glad you're better Maya." Kim said smiling at me. "It's been tough trying to deal with these idiots all alone."

"Hey!" Embry and Seth said at the same time. Kim just chuckled as she took a bite from her apple. I sat down and pulled a sandwich from my bag.

"Where is everyone else?" I asked as I swallowed a bite.

"Hutin' da reech." Seth said as stuffed food down his throat.

"I know that, but does it really take all of them to go?" I said scrunching up my nose in slightly disgust.

"She's a tricky one." Embry said quietly trying to make sure that no one heard him. "We have to try and make sure that we cover a lot of ground so she doesn't get past us."

"Oh." I said looking down before taking a drink of water. "Then how come you guys aren't out there with them?"

"I'm running patrol tonight." Embry said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And Sam doesn't want me out there." Seth said bitterly before he shoved more food in his mouth. Kim and I chuckled.

I spaced out as Seth continued to complain. I looked around the cafeteria again and I again caught the not so subtle stares. I glared at them slightly causing a few of them to turn around, yet a few brave souls kept right on staring. I felt my eye twitch slightly, but before I got any angrier I felt a hand on top of mine.

Kim was smiling at me worriedly. "Something wrong, Maya?" She asked as she placed her hand back on her lap.

"I don't know." I mumble. "People have been acting weird all day, staring at me and stuff. And this guy that I bumped into this morning in the hallway said that Zoe was saying stuff."

By this time both of the boys had started listening and they all looked at each other nervously.

"What?" I asked them with a raised eyebrow.

"Um... maybe we should tell you after school." Kim said little awkwardly.

"Why what did she say?"

They paused for a moment before Kim started.

"Well about a week after you stopped coming, people were starting to ask what happened, especially the teachers. We tried to tell the story of the bear thing but that didn't work."

Well of course it didn't work it was the stupidest story that I had ever heard.

"Then Zoe started talking about how your mom caught you and Paul doing things in her bed, so she had you transfer schools." She finished looking down a little embarrassed.

"That's not all she said is it?" I asked with narrow eyes as I folded my arms over my chest. "People wouldn't stare at me just because they found out I had sex with Paul and sure I'm wouldn't be all that shocking to find out that I didn't transfer schools. So what did she really say?"

"She said that Paul, three other guys and a video camera were involved." Seth spit out quickly.

"She what!" I screamed and stood up quickly. The whole cafeteria seemed to stop and all eyes were on me.

"Calm down!" Kim hissed as she tried to pull me down.

I sat down and let my eyes quickly run around the cafeteria looking for the green eyed bitch. Oh, she was _so_ going to get her ass kicked. While I wasn't one usually for violence, I'd wager to say that this offence warranted it.

"Violence never solved anything Maya!" Kim hissed at me.

I blinked at her wide eyed, "How did you..?"

Embry chuckled, "We've seen that look plenty of times."

"Yeah, you and Paul are a lot alike." Seth said with a smile.

"We are not!" I snapped quickly.

"Hah whatever you say." Kim said smiling at me.

I let them think I was calmed down about the Zoe thing but of course I was still plotting her death.


	21. Chapter 21

"So on Saturday are you coming to the bonfire?" Seth asked as he helped me carry my books to trig.

"What bonfire?" I asked as we turned the corner.

"Paul didn't tell you?"

"I haven't talked to Paul since last week." I mumbled in a slightly bitter tone.

"Really?" He questioned. "That's weird, but anyway there's one this week. Everyone will be telling the legends. It'll be my first time hearing them. And all the imprints get to hear them so you should come too."

"I don't know. Aren't these things supposed to be sacred or something?"

"Yeah, and outsiders can't hear about them. But you aren't an outsider. Not anymore anyway." He said with a shrug.

"Oh." I said quietly. "I guess I could come then."

"Great." He said with a smile. "Mission accomplished."

I chuckled as he left me at the class room and ran down the hallway to get to his own class.

I walked into trig and again looked for a seat that wasn't being occupied. Luckily for me there seemed to be one in the middle next to the windows. As I started to hobble my way there something hit my head.

I looked down and saw a scrunched up paper ball on the floor.

"'Sup whore?" A chuckling voice called out at me.

My head instantly snapped in its direction. I looked into the green eyes of Zane siting in one of the desks next to a girl with short hair. The girl's dark eyes were glaring at me slightly and Zane had a smirk on his face.

"Careful." I said with a smirk of my own. "You wouldn't want this whore to break your nose again would you?"

Almost instinctively his hand reached up to his nose. "You wouldn't."

"Wanna bet?" I said as I put my book on my desk. "Today has been shitty and the doctors gave me the perfect weapon to use on douchebags like you."

"I don't mind being a douche bag I'm just glad I never got to touch you, slut." He said with a smug smile.

"Like you could have touched me in the first place, fish lips." I said starting to get even more pissed off.

"Ouch, fish lips! How mean." He said as he placed a hand over his heart. "And yet you've still hadn't denied that fact that you're slut."

"Oh sweetie I don't have to deny it. Any person with common sense would realize that, those rumors were made up by certain pair of jealous siblings." I said as I started getting closer to him.

He backed away from the girl and started to back into the wall.

"Oh please, it's not that hard to figure that Paul could get you to do anything that he wanted you to." He snapped back.

"And you're dick riding 'cause you couldn't?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

I watched as a red blush started to form across his cheeks.

"Hit the nail on the head didn't I." I said quietly. He didn't say anything just looked down.

"Tell your sister that when I see her I'm definitely coming after her." I said whispering so that only he could hear me. "And this goes to both of you. I'm not going to put up with either of you guy's shit okay? So don't try me."

I backed off and made my way to my desk while Zane stood there frozen on the wall and he stayed there until the teacher walked in.

"Mr. Reyes what are you doing here?" He questioned as Zane shook his head and ran outside.

I sighed happily as I actually enjoyed my class.

Xxx

"Miss Ross!" A voice screamed in my ear.

"Ahgghghh!" I grumbled as I opened my eyes. I looked into the angry dark eyes of my teacher as the rest of the class snickered around me.

"Was I interrupting you?" He questioned acidly.

_'Well obviously!'_ I thought to myself.

For some reason though his face twisted in anger. "Detention Miss Ross!"

_'Oh Shit!'_

I smiled shyly at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

His face didn't soften any and I knew I was in deep shit.

"I would like you to stay after class, Miss Ross." He said walking away.

"Yes, Sir." I mumbled hitting my head on the desk.

For the rest of class I sat up and paid attention as best as I could, trying to show him that I was the best possible student that I could be. It didn't seem to work. For the rest of class he just kept on glaring at me.

When the bell finally rang for class to end, I waited for all the other students to leave until I approached his desk.

"Pull up a chair." He said as he finished wiping the chalk board.

"Um, can you help me, sir?" I question. I tense slightly when he lets the eraser fall to the floor with an angry sigh. "I wouldn't ask if I could do it by myself, sir."

"You don't even know my name do you?" He snapped.

I felt my heart drop to my stomach and I blanched at the thought. To be honest I hadn't really known any of the teacher's names. For starters I hadn't been here that long when I first started and then after the _'accident'_ I really didn't remember.

"Um, no I'm sorry, sir." I said quietly. I hobbled over to sit down in the chair that he placed in front of his desk.

"Do you want to go to college?" He asked suddenly.

"I don't understan-"

"You don't have to understand yet jus answer the question."

"I would like too, sir."

"Do you know what one of the most important things about collage is, Miss Ross?" He asked as he leaned back.

"Studying?"

"Knowing your professors name, is probably the most important thing that you could do in collage." He spat. "It lets the teacher know that you care enough to pay attention to at least one tiny detail in their class."

"I'm sorry, sir." I said looking down suddenly feeling horrible. Yet something in my mind was telling me that this couldn't be right. Before I left wasn't my teacher for trig a woman? I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "May I ask a question, _sir_?"

"What?" He spit.

"You just started here didn't you, sir?"

"So what?"

"Then I'm sure that you are aware that I haven't been in class for over two months?" I asked slightly cocking my head to the side.

His face seemed to instantly soften as his eyes widened.

"So you and I both know that I couldn't possibly know your name, is that right, sir?"

He glared at me as I smirked at him.

"I think we are done here, sir." I said standing up.

He let out a sigh, "No we are not. There is still the matter of the worked that you missed while you were gone."

"Would you like it?" I asked with a smirk.

I swore I saw his eye twitch even more and I wanted to laugh out loud. Apparently he wasn't used to kids handing in work, or even making an effort to do it.

"That would be nice." He said seething.

"Here you go." I said smiling as I pulled the work out of my bag. "If there is nothing else that you need I really need to get going to study hall otherwise I'm going to be late."

"No there's nothing else." He mumbled.

"By the way what is your name, sir?"

"Students call me Mr. Stonehill."

"Okay then, by Mr. Stonehill."

As soon as I closed the door behind me. I felt like I was soaring on the inside. Two badass rants in one day. I was so on a roll.

Xxx

I sat on my bed and sighed in pleasure as I closed my eyes. Today had been much more than I had expected. I wasn't going to bother to tell my mom. She would either blow it out of proportion or not take it serious enough.

*Tink* *Tink*

My eyes snapped opened when I heard the knocking on the window. Going to the balcony, I had to bite my lip to keep a smile from spreading on my face.

Paul's handsome face stood outside the doors. "You gonna let me in?" He asked, his voice slightly muffled from the doors.

"Why should I?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I haven't seen you in a week. It's like you ran away."

He stared at me before he started laughing at me.

"It's not funny." I said placing a hand on my hip.

"It is if you want me to think that you're mad at me."

"What does that mean?" I asked as I opened the door.

I didn't get a response, and I really don't think I needed one, especially not after his warm lips crashed on mine. His arms wrapped around my waist as he pulled me closer to his body. I groaned slightly and fisted the black shirt that he had on. Which was strange considering he didn't wear clothes that often when he wasn't at school.

He pulled away from me and peppered my face with light kisses which caused me to giggle slightly. When he stopped he buried his face in my hair and breathed in deep. I sighed at his warmth when he squeezed me tighter.

"I missed you." He said softly.

"I missed you too." I responded, my voice muffled by his chest. "At first I was angry that you hadn't come to see me."

"I couldn't, I'm sorry." He said pulling away from me. His chocolate eyes were looking at me with something that looked like sorrow. "We had just been chasing that leech for so long that there was really no time, to stop and rest."

"It's fine." I said with a smile.

He kissed my forehead and I pulled him over to sit on my bed. He sat down first and pulled me between his legs. I smiled when he planted another kiss on my forehead.

"You should come to the bonfire Saturday." Paul said as he watched me pick up the remote from the side of the bed and turn on the T.V.

Even though I told Seth that I would go I still wasn't sure if I wanted to go to that sort of thing. Wasn't it supposed to be secret or something?

"I don't know Paul. It doesn't seem right." I said frowning slightly as the home shopping network popped up on screen.

"What's the big deal? Imprints are supposed to go to this sort of thing. It's a chance for you to understand what we are in another way." He said convincingly. "Besides Jacob is going to bring Bella Swan and she's not even an imprint."

"Who's Bella Swan? And why does it sound like you hate her?" I questioned looking at him skeptically. His face seemed to change as he started to talk about her.

"She's a stupid girl that keeps coming around Jacob."

"That's your issue with her?" I asked rising and eyebrow, and watched as he shook his head.

"No, we all have and issue. Jacob loves her, or at least thinks he does, but she's just playing around with him."

"How do you know that's what she's doing? She could just be confused about her feelings."

Paul snorted, "I doubt that. Her boyfriend is a leech."

I felt my eyes widened, "A vampire? Why would she want a vampire as a boyfriend? Isn't that kind of dangerous?"

"Exactly!" He said happy that I was seeing that her choices weren't exactly the best to make. "She cuts herself once and she's dead!"

"It's not Carlisle is it?" I questioned.

Paul's eyes seemed to buck before he laughed, "No it's not the doc, but it is his kid."

"Oh." I said. "Well he can't be that bad, can he?"

"What?" He questioned his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Well when you said that she was dating a vampire I thought you meant like the one that attacked me but if it's one like Carlisle he can't be all bad can he? After all, when Carlisle was taking care of me he had to spend a lot of time around blood, and he never attacked me."

"You don't get it!" He snapped. "A leech is a leech no matter what it does."

"Then should I be afraid of you?" I questioned glaring back at him.

"What?"

"If a vampire can't be anything more than what it is, can a werewolf? Wouldn't you be just as dangerous?"

He looked a little stumped, and I let my glare soften a little.

"It's understandable that you have a natural hate for them, it's in your nature. But if they are like Carlisle and are making a sincere effort to not drink blood, then they really can't be all that bad, can they?"

Paul looked at me like I had grown two heads. We stared blankly at each other for a few minutes until I broke eye contact and ended the channel search on some cartoons. Paul still seemed to be in shock, but to me it didn't really matter. It wasn't fair that the wolves got to say who was a better monster; shouldn't the vampires at least be given a chance? Especially if they are like Carlisle.

"I'm not saying that all vampires need to be given the same chance, but they've never tried to hurt you guy's right?"

Paul was quiet but he did start to run his fingers slightly through my hair. We were quiet for a while. Neither of us was really paying attention to the T.V.

"I don't understand how you could feel like that." He said quietly. "Especially after the way that leech hurt you."

"I feel like it'd be hypocritical of me to say that I can have a werewolf boyfriend but you can't have a vampire boyfriend, because of his eating habits." I said leaning my head back. "It somehow feels like, I don't know, mystical discrimination? Is that a term?"

"Boyfriend?" He asked.

'_Of course that's the only thing he heard.'_

"I guess." I said rolling my eyes. I started chuckling when he tightened his arms around my waist. "Better I make you my boyfriend then continue to be the school whore."

His body tensed and I knew I said the wrong thing at the wrong time.

"What are you talking about?" He questioned his voice low.

"Nothing you need to worry about it's been handled." I said looking up at him with a smile hoping that he would drop it.

As if he could read my thoughts, I watched as his eyes hesitated for a moment before his body relaxed and he leaned us further back.

"Fine." He mumbled against my hair. I smiled as we laid there for who knows how long but I did remember the last thought that ran through my head before I fell asleep.

'_Today was a damn good day.'_


	22. Chapter 22

Paul stayed the night every day after that Monday night. The only bad part was when he had patrol and he snuck in too my room at two sometimes three o'clock in the morning. He never had a problem getting into my room, the problem came when he tried to get in my bed. My full size bed was much too small for the both of us to be able to be comfortable while lying next to each other and Paul lying on top of me wasn't the best idea either. He tried that on Wednesday and I woke up violently choking because his large arm had somehow found its way to lie on my neck. Needless to say that the rest of the night was spent giving me soft kisses and begging me for forgiveness. I say the choking was almost worth it.

The solution that he came up with was simple; he would just pick me up whenever he came over and laid me on top of him. I actually had no problem with that. Whenever he was there I felt at peace and was able to sleep better than I thought possible. Maybe that was the reason that I didn't mind that he had continued to just invite himself over. I wanted to use him for my personal gain.

Xxx

I could feel fingers smoothly run through my hair; the pleasant sensation caused me to snuggle into the warm body beneath me. When a chuckle rumbled through his chest I slowly cracked my eyes open and stared at the window in front of me. The sun was bright, much too bright to be before seven o'clock.

"What time is it?" I asked sleepily closing my eyes and enjoying Paul's fingers.

"Nine," He said simply in reply.

"Oh," I relaxed back into his chest and reveled in the absolute pleasure that it was Saturday. Weekends really were the best invention since sliced bread. My mother wouldn't be home, probably out shopping or watching (stalking) any guy that she found attractive. I got to stay here with my boyfriend, _my_ boyfriend. The phrase had never sounded so sweet to me.

"Did you still want to go to the bonfire tonight?" He asked quietly almost worriedly.

"I said I would, is there some reason you don't want me to go now?" I asked popping my head up to look at him.

He lightly shook his head and said, "No, I just wanted to make sure that you still did, because if you didn't I would have to think of something else for us to do."

"Like what?" I asked sitting up, it was obvious at this point that I wasn't going back to sleep so there was no point of just lying there, besides I was getting hungry.

Paul started to get up as well and I watched as he stood to stretch, it was an interesting sight. I don't think that I have ever l liked, no -_loved_ someone's body so much. I felt my face heat up as I watched the mussels in his back flex. I looked down before he could notice me staring and I got off of the bed.

"I don't know," he mumbled as he watched me intently as I went to my closet. "There is a theater in Forks but it probably wouldn't be a good idea to go, it is in the leeches' territory."

"I see," I said partially listening to him as I picked out a shirt to put on for the day. I decided on a light blue batman t-shirt and some dark skinny jeans and black converse. As I walked out of the closet I saw Paul looking over the pictures on my wall. They weren't many of me and friends but there were a lot of scenery shots.

"Do you like them?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah," he said simply. "Did you take them?"

"Yep." I said walking over to him. "They are all of my favorite spots in San Francisco."

I lifted my hand and fingered a picture of the North Beach. It was one of my favorite because of its light house and the fact that it had blue stones and blue seaweed that washed up on the shore.

"You miss it?" He asked quietly.

"Of course," I said with no hesitation. "It is my home, why wouldn't I miss it? To be honest I don't know why we moved here. I thought it was work related but the clearly doesn't seem to be the case, all she does is shop."

"You think you'll move back after you graduate?" He asked quietly.

"Of course!" I said whipping around to look at him. "I planned to go college there and my plans haven't changed."

He looked at me blankly before something flashed behind his eyes. I could see him clench his hands and I rolled my eyes and shook my head with a sigh.

"You didn't actually expect me to stay here did you?"

"Yeah, I kinda did!" He said with his voice raised and I narrowed my eyes in response.

"Don't act like a child Paul, what made you think that I would drop my plans just because I moved here? I never wanted to be here in the first place."

"Me!" He said angrily. "I thought you would want to stay here with me!"

"Paul, for me graduation is still a year and a half away. I don't even know if we'll be together then!" I responded as I started to raise my voice. "And even if we were together I can't believe that you expect me to put my life on hold for you! There are things that I would like to do with my life!"

"You're _my_ imprint!" He growled out. "Of course I expect you to stay here! We are supposed to be together and that's the way it is!"

"Just because I'm your imprint doesn't mean that I have to be tied down to somewhere that I don't want to be!" I spit at him. "Besides from the way that I understand we don't have to be together!"

This was bad, why were we arguing? Weren't things just going so well? This was a stupid thing to argue about. There was still so much time for us to figure things out, yet he wanted to bring it up. This is so stupid.

"I already told you that I don't care what the others do!" He said with a snarl and he started to walk forward and he grabbed my arm. I tried to rip my arm away from him but his grip was strong and the more I moved the tighter that it got. I felt tears starting to prick up at the sides of my eyes. "I don't want to be your friend and I don't want to be your brother and I'm definitely not going to let you leave me!"

He sounded insane! What was wrong with him? I looked in his eyes and saw something that disturbed me. They were brown but they weren't his eyes. Paul's were a warm brown that made me want to melt with just a single look. These eyes were feral and full of anger, almost animalistic. I didn't actually care at the moment what that meant but I knew that I wanted him away from me at this point.

"Who would want to stay with you?" I asked acid dripping from every word. "What do you have to offer me that I couldn't find in someone else?"

Paul was in shock that much I could tell, partially because his grip had loosened on my arm and I took it back. I didn't bother to look at it but I knew that it was bruised. There was still the matter of the angry wolf-boy in my room and what I was about to say to him was cruel.

"There's nothing for me here, you know?" I asked him as I watch him put his arm back at his side. "Not even you. I don't and probably won't ever feel the same way that you do for me."

He looked away from me and I watched him start to shake. "You're lying." He said quietly.

"What's the point of lying now?" I asked not really caring about the hurt tone he used. I was hurt too. "You mean nothing to me and I don't want to see you."

He whipped around and looked at me in the eye. Dark brown eyes searched mine and for a second I felt horrible for what I said, but he started it. He was the one who backed me into the corner; this was the only way to get him to leave, right?

When he saw that my gaze wasn't wavering he looked away from me and without a word he was out my window. I walked over to my bed and sat down and looked at the bright red spot on my brown arm and I winced slightly when I tried to move it. I started to rub it slightly thinking that somehow that would make it better, but of course that wasn't working. I would have to wait until my mother got home so she could help me with it.

I stared blankly at the wall feeling slightly conflicted with what I said to Paul, but I didn't understand why. It wasn't like he didn't deserve it, and besides it was just an argument it wasn't like I meant what I said to him. It was true that I didn't quite feel the same things that Paul felt about me, but my feelings for him grew every day. Yet my heart ached as I kept replaying the stupid argument over and over again in my head. I wasn't the one who started it yet I get stuck with the guilt, that didn't seem fair at all.

I got up and walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My unkempt black hair was all over my head and my cheek and faint traces of drool on it. I literally gagged at myself in the mirror before I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I changed into the clothes that I picked out earlier and sighed as I started to brush my hair. When it was straight enough for my taste I put the brush down and stared in the mirror. I slightly glared at myself and sighed as I walked from the bathroom. I felt like shit.

Xxx

"Goddammit!" I screamed throwing my PS3 controller across the room. I was playing Assassin's Creed II and a certain assassin decided to kill himself by jumping in a direction that I clearly did not want him to go. I shook my head and stood up to turn the system off.

Since this morning I had been trying to get my mind off of the argument and the thing that seemed best to help was playing video games, but even then I was never fully concentrated on them and I kept winding up having fits of rage. I really wasn't having a great day.

My phone started too vibrating in my pocket and I sighed thinking that is was my mother calling to tell me about all of the things she bought. It turned out that I was wrong; it in fact was an unknown number.

"Hello?" I answered cautiously.

"Maya? Is that you?" Asked the voice from the other end of the phone.

"Kim?" I questioned wondering how she got my number.

"Yeah it's me. Seth gave me your number," she said answering my unasked question.

"I see," I said and I felt my eye twitch slightly. Seth really needed to stop giving out my number. First Paul and now Kim, how many other people have my number now?

"Um…Can I come over?" She asked quietly.

"If you want. Do you know how to get here?"

"Yeah Seth told me."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay, Bye!"

"Bye," I mumbled back to her. It was kind of sudden that Kim wanted to hang out with me. It wasn't like we weren't friends or anything it's just we weren't the closet people. In fact I wasn't really close with any of them. That fact made me kind of sad; they seemed like really nice people for some reason though, it just felt like I was an outsider like I wasn't supposed to be there. I wasn't going to force my way in either that didn't make any sense to me, if we were meant to all be friends it would happen naturally, but I'm sure that my argument with Paul would put a wrench in that plan.

About fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang and when I opened the door I was greeted by a wide smile from Kim.

"Hey," she said waving at me a smiled at her and moved out of the door way to let her in.

"How are you?" I asked going to join her on the couch.

"Okay," she shrugged. "A little tired because I didn't get much sleep last night. I swear my room was infested with ants and I moved every piece of furniture I had trying to track them down."

I chuckled at her tale. She seemed so annoyed, but I couldn't blame her ants were disgusting.

"Was there something that you needed to talk about?" I asked. It was cool if she just wanted to come hang out with me but I doubt that was the case.

"What do you mean?" She asked smiling nervously. Her russet skin seemed to have paled a little and I knew that something was up.

"Kim," I warned looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "If you have something to say just say it, otherwise it will be awkward the whole time that you are here."

She nodded her head and sighed, "It's about Paul."

I groaned and rolled my eyes, "What about Paul?"

"We don't know where he is."


	23. Chapter 23

I sat on Emily's front porch with my legs tucked underneath me. I was scared; no one knew where Paul was. Apparently after he left my house he transformed, his howl could be heard all the way from Emily's house. They tried to get in contact with him through their freaky wolf telepathy stuff, and all they caught were the memories about the argument that we had that morning and not where he was off too in his rage. It was my fault; I knew that there is no getting around that. I said things that hurt him and now it is all my fault that no one knows where he is. I hadn't thought that he would take it so seriously, I mean, I couldn't have been the first person to tell him off.

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and I looked up and saw Sam looking back at me. He had a strange smile on his face and I knew he was trying to make me feel better.

"What do you want Sam?" I asked as I buried my head in my lap. "Shouldn't you be inside, hating me just like the others?"

"They don't hate you," he said with a warm smile looking at me. "They are just wondering what happened to their brother, the same way you and I are wondering what happened to him."

I sighed as I felt his big body sit next to mine on the tiny porch. I wouldn't say anything more about the argument that Paul and I had this morning. No matter how many times that I tried to explain what happened this morning, they always swore that I must have done something more to him. Especially Leah, she must have hated me even more than she did before. I could feel her watching me even though a thick wall separated us, it was unnerving. What bothered me even more was that fact that no one believed me. I knew they were mostly acting out of anger at this point but instead of even considering that Paul was being irrational, they placed the blame on me. At least that was the vibe that I was getting from not only Leah but Jared as well.

I had forgotten that Jared and Paul were best friends. He was different then the times that I had seen him in school or the first time that I came to Emily's house. It seemed like he had some sort of pent up rage at me for hurting Paul the way that I did, and that was probably because they were so close. I would have thought that his loyalty was a wonderful trait if his rage wasn't directed at me.

"This is hard, Sam." I mumbled still not looking at the huge wolf-man next to me. I heard his deep chuckle and his large warm hand patted me on the back in a gesture of comfort but all that did was leave me slightly gasping for air, but he didn't say anything. I was grateful for that; Sam seemed like the most level headed of anyone in the entire pack and the most intuitive too. That probably came with being the oldest and the leader, but it was still a nice change from all the hostility that was being directed at me in the house. A hostility that I blamed on that fact that I knew none of them well and they did not know me either, not even Seth, as much as he would try and deny it. Even happy Seth, was upset with me, I could tell by the frown the showed on his cute face when I first walked into Emily's house, it was only there for a second but I saw it easily. Years of observing people as I sat quietly alone helped me to be able to quickly read the looks on people's faces when they thought others wouldn't notice.

The only other person who hadn't been angry with me besides Kim and Sam, was Emily. She was the only one who was truly happy to see me, but I don't think that it was because she was too worried about Paul. She was, apparently, the only one who realized that Paul was bound to do something as silly as run away when he had a problem. She, in fact, had seemed so nonchalant about the situation and she used the opportunity to offer me some of her freshly baked cookies, still warm from the oven. When Jared saw Emily trying to push a cookie into one of my hands he shook his head in disgust and stormed out of the house in anger, only to calm down and come back about ten minutes later. When he returned he was greeted with a smirk from Emily.

"See what you just did there?" She questioned crossing her arms over her chest as she watched him plop on the couch forcing Seth off of the couch and onto the floor.

"What?" He questioned with anger still lining his voice.

"Got angry, went outside, blew some steam off and came back." She stated simply as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed one of the cookies she made and took a bite. "Just like Paul."

That simple sentence seemed to lift the mood in the house temporarily, but that was hours ago. Now that dusk was upon us and it was starting to get cold outside. Missing Paul or not the wolves had to run patrol soon and those who weren't going were going to start heading over to the bon fire.

I felt the weight of the wood shift as Sam stood. I looked over his tall form and watched as he smiled sadly at me.

"He'll be back soon don't worry."

"And he'll be in trouble won't he?" I asked looking back at the setting sun and the quickly darkening sky. It was starting to get cold but I wanted to wait for him to come back, so he would at least know that I had the decency to be worried about him the way that a normal girlfriend would be.

"For neglecting his duties? Of course." Sam said quickly and sternly crossing his large arms over his chest. "For neglecting you? That's not for me to decide."

I felt my face heat and I quickly hid my face in my lap again only to hear him chuckle.

"Was I wrong Sam?" I asked quietly my voice slightly muffled by my legs. I looked at him as I started to change my position so my back would rest on one of the railings of the porch and my legs would face the other rail.

"What do you mean?" He asked looking at me with raised eyebrow after his chuckling stopped.

"Saying the things that I did to Paul, I didn't want to hurt him but that was just what I felt that I needed to say. He was so upset but I couldn't even begin to start thinking about a future with him. I mean we just started dating, if you could even call it that, and he is already thinking about a future together."

Sam looked at me for a minute before he squatted down next to me with a sigh and pat me on the shoulder as he had done earlier. "I can't tell you what is right and what is wrong. I can tell you that the minute that he saw you he couldn't imagine his life without you, so to him it seemed natural to start thinking of your future together."

"I understand that, but just because it would be something that he wanted doesn't mean that I want the same things. It seemed like he expected me to put my life on hold just for him. And no matter whom it is I am not prepared to do that." I said starting to get angry again at the thought of Paul's ridiculous plans.

Sam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose and said something that I couldn't understand before he said, "Look, I can't tell you what to do. When that time comes that will be a discussion for the two of you to have not him and I or me and you."

I sighed and nodded and he pats me on the head before he went inside with the others to pass out their orders. I looked back out at the sky and watched as the pinks of the sky seemed to fade away and the inky black started to make its appearance. I sighed and leaned my back against the rail and looked at my phone and checked for a new message and saw none. I closed my eyes as I rest my head against the railing. My heart was starting to ache with worry.

'_He'll be fine. Paul is strong, we all know that_.' I thought to myself trying to get my mind from concocting horrible ways that Paul could be hurt or killed. It seemed my head favored one Image the most and that was Paul somehow getting his head ripped off by the crazy vampire lady that attacked me.

"Hey." A voice snarled at me. I snapped my eyes open only to meet the angry brown ones of Leah, "Move."

She tilted her head in the direction of my feet which were currently stretched across the porch. I quickly pulled them close to my body and watched as she walked off into the woods. A few moments later most of the bodies that were in the house came pouring out of the door way, most of them ignoring me, save for Seth, who just cast me a sad smile as he walked away.

I watched as they all walked away each going their separate ways. The ones going to the bon fire probably wanted to head over with their families.

"Are you going with us?" Emily asked as she came to stand next to me as Sam locked the door to the house.

"Uh, no." I said scratching the back of my head and I grimaced seeing her confused face. "I'm going to stay here and wait until he comes back."

Emily frowned but before she could complain about my choice in action Sam brought a hand to her lower back and started to guide her out to his truck.

"If she wants to wait for him she can wait for him. She'll be fine; no leech is going to get close to this place and from what I hear, if someone sneaks up on her I'm sure that she'll be able to handle herself." Sam said quieting her before she could protest.

I watched as Emily rolled her eyes at Sam but waved goodbye to me anyway. She got into the truck after Sam opened the door for her and when he got in they all but sped off.

Sighing as the cold set in I pulled my brown jacket closer to me and reached in my pocket to press play on my IPod. I slipped my head phones from around my neck and over my ears and relaxed as _Don't Speak _by No Doubt started to roll out from the speakers. I looked at the sky and saw that the stars had started to make their presence known.

I closed my eyes as I let the music start to wash over me and eventually fell asleep.

Xxx

That warm hand woke me up as it had the before, thumb stroking the back of my hand smoothly. I slide my eyes open and saw chocolate brown ones staring back at me sadly.

"Sorry." He said quietly. I looked at him and I briefly considered yelling at him for running away and bothering to answer anyone's phone calls or responding to when one of the pack called for him. Then I spotted his warm arms were open and looked inviting and decided that being held in them was better than starting another argument.

Paul seemed to notice my gazed and pulled me to sit between his legs on the bottom stair. I sat with my arms wrapped around him and my faced buried in his neck as he did the same with his nose to my hair. His warm arms found their way around my waist and pulled me even closer than I thought possible.

"I missed you." I mumbled closing my eyes as I let his scent wash over me.

"I missed you too." He said placing a kiss on my hair line.

"Don't do that again."

"I won't ."

"Good." I murmured knowing that even if he said that he wouldn't he still might.

Paul hooked his arms under my legs and picked me up and started to walk.

"Where are we going?" I asked not opening my eyes as I felt myself starting to be lulled back to sleep not only by his warmth but the steady beat of his heart.

"My house." He said simply.

"What about my mom?"

"I'll take care of it."

I snorted slightly knowing that it wouldn't be as easy to get my mom off as he thought it would be, she would probably interrogate him for hours. Even after she hung up I could almost count on her being in the bushes outside of his window ten minutes later. Not that she would try to interrupt if something was happening, in fact she'd probably be excited if it was.

"Your mom?" I questioned drowsily. I knew it probably sounded like I was high but the faint music of some song playing in my head phones and the added combination of Paul was more than enough to keep me high on life.

"Don't worry about it, no one is gonna bother us." He said simply.

"Okay."

And with that I was back asleep.

XXX

A/N: 0_0… It's been Waaayyy to long since I've posted and I feel like a giant asshole. I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who has been reading and reviewing my story. I never actually thought that people would read it. I should have ore updates soon and I'll probably post again tomorrow since I have some chapters written already. Sorry and Thank you again guys! Bye ^_^


	24. Chapter 24

I've never been one to really care what someone or a particular group of people thought about me. I've always known that if I stayed quiet enough I would eventually be ignored and no one would care when I did seemingly out of characters things. I also always had my back up plan of laughing maniacally and scaring the bully. (I have never had to resort to that plan but I cannot wait for the day that it comes.) However, this instance might be the only time that I would come close to even remotely caring about the thoughts of others.

It goes without saying that Paul is an extremely protective person and that aspect of his personality seemed to manifest itself in his sleep.

His arms were wrapped tightly around my waist and were crushing me to his chest. He snoring was slightly muffled given the fact that he had most of his face buried in my hair. I had awakened because of the overwhelming heat and lack of oxygen. When I blinked my eyes opened I was looking up into Paul's face and I smiled. I tried to pull away from him but as soon as I got even an inch away from him he would snap me back to his chest. I tried that three times and on the last he got irritated.

"Where do you keep trying to go?" He mumbled as he tried to bury his face even further in my hair but i don't think he was succeeding.

"I'm too hot." I murmured back.

"I know."

"That's not what I meant!"

I glared up at him and he smiled. Some magical way he managed to untangle the blanket from in between us and threw it to the floor.

"Better?" He questioned as his voice seemed to get heavier with sleep. I nodded not having the energy to say anything else. With the temperature instantly almost instantly coming down, I was once again ridiculously tired.

He pulled me closer to his body before I felt him completely relax and go back to sleep me not too far behind him.

Xxx

When I woke up the second time I was alone. The spot beside me was still warm and I didn't know if that was because I had been rolling all over the bed or because Paul had just recently got up.

I got my answer when Paul's heavy footsteps came into the room. He yawned then plopped back down on the bed before getting in beside me.

I watched as he rolled over to face me.

"Morning." He said with a smile as he pulled me on top of him. I smiled when he placed a kiss in my hair and started to rub his fingers through it.

"Hi." I said quietly not in the mood for any real conversation. He seemed to sense my mood because he didn't say anything else for a good ten minutes. By that time I was already half-way back to sleep.

"Isn't this nice?" He questioned softly.

"Yeah." I said with a sigh.

"So why would you want to go back to California?"

I felt my face flush in anger at the rehashing of the topic. Couldn't he wait until later to ask questions like that? I took a deep breath before I got frustrated.

"I don't want to talk about that right now." I said sharply hoping to get him to drop the subject.

He tensed at my tone but he didn't say anything more.

We sat in silence for a little while longer but it wasn't the same as it was before. I could feel him wanting to try and convince me to stay. I didn't even want to think about it. There really was nothing to actually think about. That was a matter to be decided in the future. I had time to change my mind on my own if I wanted to, and he would have nothing to do with my decision; at least I hoped he didn't. I never wanted to be the type of girl who made her decisions based on what others do or want.

The awkwardness ruined the overall atmosphere and whatever peace that we had.

Xxx

It was the plainest house that I had ever been in. There were almost no pictures on the walls and the walls themselves were painted a dull white. The only thing that was there to really grab one's attention besides the rather large television that was situated in the very center of the living room that was facing the lone sofa in the living room. It was then that I noticed how small that Paul's house really was. I could see the entirety of the living room from this small dining room that was across from the tiny kitchen.

We had been relatively quiet since our rather tense conversation earlier this morning, the only other words that we had exchanged was when he asked me if I was hungry and that lead to the rather awkward situation that we were in now.

Paul had long finished shoving his food down his throat and now he was pretending to not watch me slowly eat.

He had slightly burnt the eggs that he made me and I took that as a symptom of his frustration with me over this situation.

"Paul?" I started quietly.

"What?" He grunted.

"Where are your parents?"

"I live alone." He said without hesitation and in a tone that showed that he didn't want to go in any depth about the topic. I took the hint and tried to finish my food but the overwhelming silence and tenseness of the whole situation had me feeling sick.

"Why don't we go to the movies or something?" I mumbled not completely looking at him as I dragged my fork through the eggs on the plate.

"Like a... date?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, one of those things." I said meeting his eyes. "Aren't those the things that couples are supposed to do?"

"I guess."

"Well I mean we don't necessarily have to." I said looking at the ceiling hoping that some other form of entertainment would rain down from the sky and into my brain. "We could play a board game."

"What are you, twelve?" He said with a smirk.

"Board games are a wonderful bonding experience!" I said glaring at him slightly and watched as he started to chuckle.

"Whatever." He said as he quieted himself. "I don't have any board games anyway. I've got video games."

"Like I didn't notice." I said, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well you don't exactly have a lot in here." I said using my arms to motion to the room around me.

"It's a dining room." He said blankly.

"No dummy!" I said then I started to use my arms to make a large circles hoping that he would understand that he would understand my weird arm language. "In the house!"

He looked around for minute before he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't really have anything to put up."

"That's what we should do!" I said clapping my hands excitedly. I wasn't one for shopping but if it would get us in public and away from the awkwardness of being alone in his house then I was all for it.

He looked at me for a minute, like he was trying to gauge how serious I was about this course of action. "Why don't we go to the movies instead?" He questioned almost hopefully.

I smirked and rolled my eyes, "You should have just said yes to the movies in the first place."

He rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.

"Oh," I said looking up at him. "You have to take me to my house so I can shower and get some clothes."

Paul seemed to grimace a little when I said 'my house'.

"What's wrong?" I questioned looking at him as my eyebrows started to furrow in confusion at his reaction.

"I already went to your house." He said looking away from me suddenly finding one of his plain white walls interesting.

"You what?" I asked narrowing my as I watched the man-boy in front me fidget awkwardly.

"I went to your house and I got you some stuff."

"Mm-hmm." I said I said staring at him intently for a moment. "Is my room a mess?"

"I tried to be as careful as possible."

I sighed and shook my head, "If I go home and my room is messy you're cleaning it."

"Fine." He said with a shrug of his shoulders. I looked at him skeptically for a moment. It was strange that he was being so agreeable but I wouldn't say anything about it, no one needed grumpy Paul in their life.

"Where did you put them?" I asked standing up with the intention of putting the dishes away but Paul beat me too it.

"In the closet, in my room." I nodded and walked into his room and went into the closet. I blinked slightly when I saw an overnight bag sitting by itself on the floor. It was strange though, because I didn't own an overnight bag.

"I've feel like I've seen this bag before." I mumbled to myself looking at the beige color and floral pattern. I shrugged it off and unzipped the bag and I smiled when I pulled out what happened to be one of my favorite t-shirts. I smiled when I saw the picture of wonder woman on the gray fabric of the shirt. I reached back into the bag for so a pair of pants. Digging around in the bag, I stopped moving my hand when my fingers ran over some plastic.

"What's this?" I ask myself grabbing the wrapper. Pulling that object out I screamed when I saw the object in its entirety. "Paul!"

I felt my face turn red the longer that I held it in my hand, both from anger and embarrassment.

"What?" Paul called from the living room. I didn't say anything because a piece of paper caught my attention.

"Uh, never mind." I said shakily. I took the note from the bag and felt a frown pull at my lips and I sighed. "Damn it mom."

_HI sweetie!_

_So that cutie came over saying that you were staying the night with him and I just knew that you guys would be needing supplies~ Hopefully I put enough in your bag, (don't want you comin' home wit babehz, lol!) Anyways, I'll see when you get home! Lub you!_

_XOXOXO,_

_Mommy._

'I swear I'm going to kill her.' I thought shaking my head.

"You sure?" Asked a voice from behind me.

"Yeah!" I said quickly turning around to smile at Paul. I put both hand behind my back trying to hide the _supplies_. "Uh, where is your shower?"

"Behind you." He stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

I looked behind me and felt a wave of embarrassment come over me. There, to the right of the closet, was an open door that clearly lead to the bathroom. "Oh, thanks."

"Are you sick?" He questioned suddenly appearing close to my face. I yelped in surprise and stumbled back but I steadied myself and smiled awkwardly.

"I'm fine, thanks." I said maneuvering into the bathroom and closing the door.

Xxx

"That was one of the stupidest things that I have ever seen!" I whined slightly. Paul chuckled from above me.

We had just come from seeing this supposedly scary movie called _Silent Screams. _The movie consisted of the usual bad acting and the horrible jump scares that horror movies seemed to be fond of recently. We sat on a large bench outside of a _Julies' Hot Dogs_. I sat in between Paul's legs and he had his arms wrapped tightly around my waist and his chin resting on top of my head.

"You had fun though, right?" He asked. I smiled when I felt his deep voice rumble through both his and my body.

"Yet it was good." I said smiling into the side of his neck.

"Good." He mumbled as he kissed my temple. My cheeks flushed immediately and I looked down embarrassed. I felt his hand turn my face to make me look at him. And I felt his lips smash onto mine.

I closed my eyes and smiled into the kiss and fisted a part of his gray shirt. I moaned when I felt his tongue lick my bottom lip for entrance, I immediately opened my mouth and I groaned slightly when his tongue invaded my mouth. We continued like that for a while until the finally the lack of air called us to pull apart. Paul bit my lip as pulled away before he placed a final kiss on my lips. He pulled me into his chest and tightened his arms even more around my waist. I wrapped around him and hugged him tightly as I closed my eyes.

I relaxed even more as he started to run his fingers through my hair. "This is nice." I mumbled into his chest,"

"Mmhmm" He grunted but didn't say much else. We sat there for a long while and I could feel the wind starting to pick up. I cracked an eye open to look at the overcast sky. It was late in the afternoon but it had looked the same way earlier in the morning, Forks really was a depressing place.

Paul stiffened beneath me and at the same time my phone vibrated in my pocket. Quickly untangling myself from Paul. I looked at the text and saw that it was from my mom.

'_We need to talk.'-_Mom

"_K, I'll be home in a little while'-_ Maya

'_Now, Maya!'-_Mom

I blinked confused, mom was never serious.

"Uh, Paul, can you take me home? My mom is acting weird." I asked chuckling slightly, but when I looked at him a frown found its way to my face. His face was glaring hard off to the left but when I looked where he was, but I couldn't see anything. "Paul?"

"Yeah, I'll take you home." He said quickly before grabbing my hand and pulling towards his truck which wasn't too far off.

He slammed the door as he got in the truck and as soon as he turned it on he sped back in the direction of La Push.

The car wide itself was tense. Paul's grip on the steering wheel was getting tighter by the minute and I was getting worried about what my mom wanted me to talk about. We hadn't had a serious conversation in a long time and when we did have those conversations it was usually something serious, really serious.

By the time that we stopped in front of my house Paul was practically growling at nothing.

He walked me to the door and watched as I walked inside. He started to walk away but I grabbed his arm and made him stop.

"Is everything okay?" I questioned softly looking at his angry eyes. They seemed to soften a bit. He walked to stand back in front of me. He smoothed down the sides of my hair and placed a kiss on my forehead.

"Don't worry. I'll see you tonight, ok?" He said quietly but his tone was slightly harsh like he was on edge about something. I nodded and watched as he stormed to his truck.

I turned into my house and closed the door quietly behind me. "Mom!" I called as I took a sweat jacket that Paul let me borrow and laid it on the couch. When I didn't get an answer I walked up the stairs and into my mom's study.

I found her sitting in her computer chair glaring at her computer screen and sipping a tall glass of red wine.

"Mom?" I questioned quietly. She looked at me and my eyes widened when I saw the tear stains on her light brown cheeks.

"Oh, good you're here, baby." She waved me over and I sat in the smaller chair next to her.

"What's wrong mom?"

"It's your father."

"My father?" I asked looking at her surprised. We never talked about my father because he wasn't important. He didn't want me and I didn't want him, I didn't need him. My mom was enough for me. "What about him?"

"He wants to take you from me!"

XXX

A/N: Next Chapter Like I told you! ^_^ I probably won't make a habit of making author's notes but I've felt so bad for not updating sooner. Thanks for reading and the reviews that you guys have given me. You're all too good to me! Next Chapter soon! Bye


	25. Chapter 25

"He can't do that!" I screamed standing up.

"Calm down, baby please." My mother said

"No, I won't!" I said getting angrier at the thought of him having the audacity of thinking that he could he even think to try and take me away. "Why does he think he has the right?"

"He filed a complaint with the court saying that I was forcing you to keep away from him."

"That's bullshit!" I screamed not paying any attention to my mother's glare. "He didn't want me. He said that to you! To me!"

My mother shook her head and wipe her tears from her pretty eyes, "I know, I know, but we can't prove that. It would be a case of our word against his. And sometimes that just not enough. The way it is now it just looks like I was just taking you away.

I looked at my mother incredulously, "It's not just his word against ours. It our scares versus his words! My back is fucked up because of him and you're saying that we don't have evidence!"

"I never filed a report Maya!" My mother screamed standing up as her hazel eyes filled with more tears. "I never called the police, I never went down to the station, I never so much as told your grandmother. If they were to ask anyone all they would be able to say is that I was taking you away!"

"Is that why we moved here?" I questioned a stern tone suddenly taking over my voice causing my mother to look down. "Was he coming when we were back in L.A?"

She nodded her head but didn't meet my eye. "I thought that if we weren't in the sate he would at least give up."

"You should have known better!" I said scolding her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I should be able to protect you!" She said burying her face in her hands and shaking her head. "Not the other way around. You shouldn't have to worry about me the way that you do or take care of me the way that you do. I'm the mother."

I looked at my mother with sad eyes. We both knew what she said was true, but I had never seen it as a burden to take care of my mother. I knew the reason that she wasn't able to plan things in advance, or scold me the way that a mother should. It wasn't her fault that she couldn't seem to get her head out of the clouds; she was changed into that type of person. In all honesty I was happy about how happy and energetic that she seemed, there was a point when she was void of any emotion at all. When my mother was broken.

"You are my mother." I said walking to her and embracing her. Being the same height it was easy for her to lay her head on my shoulder as she started to sob. "And I love you for the way you are. I don't want you to worry. I'm not going anywhere, no matter how many complaints that he puts in to the courts. I bet you that this is some kind of ploy to get money from the government for me."

I felt my mother sigh and nod her head. She pulled away and wiped her puffy eyes very much like a child wood.

"Don't rub your eyes mom, they'll swell." She nodded her head and dropped her hands to her sides. "Why don't you go in your room and change and take a nap. I'll order us some Pizza or something for dinner okay?"

She nodded again and made her way out of her study. When I was sure that she left the room I turned to look at the papers that were left scattered on the desk. I picked up one of the documents and picked out some key words.

'Michael Ross is suing Jessica Thomas for custody of Maya Jasmine Ross."

I glared at the paper and placed it down on the desk. That sorry excuse for a father had no right to even try to see me let alone have custody over me. He tried to ruin my life before it even began.

Xxx

It had been a couple of hours since I had come home and found my mother in the state that she was in. She hadn't woken up since she lay down. I had gone to check on her since then but it just seemed like she tired herself out with all of her crying. She had probably been bawling before I came home.

The pizza man had come about thirty minutes ago and now I was sitting in the living room with a large pizza sitting on the table watching television as I angrily ate another slice of slightly cold pizza.

"You should probably slow down before you get fat!" A voice hissed from behind me. It was familiar. I had heard that same sentence from a long time ago. I turned my head but saw no one in the room.

"What was that?" I mumble to myself looking around. I stood as I finished off my last slice of pizza and picked up the box. My eyes wondered around the rooms as I placed the box on the stove, wanting to leave it out in case mother came down late in search of food.

"Bitch, are you trying to make my daughter fat!" I looked behind me quickly and I felt my eyes widen in fear my heart rate started to increase and I felt my arms get weak.

"Why is this happening?" I murmured to myself as I suddenly felt at an ache in the back of my head. I sunk down in front of the oven and pulled my knees to my chest.

_Xxx_

_'This shouldn't be happening.' My ten year old self thought as I watched my father glare at me accusingly. I put the slice of pizza down on the plate and looked at him confused. "Dad, this is my second slice of pizza."_

_"Did I ask you what it was!" It wasn't a question, I knew that. He never asked questions he only screamed and dictated._

_I look down; I couldn't stand looking into those scarily clear black eyes. As far as I knew, father never drank, never smoked, and never did drugs. The only reason I could think of him doing this for was because he was crazy._

_"I didn't want a daughter no way." He spit at me as he grabbed my arm and yanked me up from the table. He squeezed tight and I winced and felt tears start to cloud my eyes._

_"Mom?" I whispered looking at her. Mom was just as beautiful as always, her light skin glowing slightly in her brown dress and her full lips were slightly pouty, but her almond shaped hazel eyes were empty. No emotion, he had already had her tonight._

_I screamed when I suddenly felt my body being flung to the ground. I shuddered when I felt the back of my head connect with the tile on the ground. I blinked quickly as my vision seemed to turn gray for a second. I don't remember ever being thrown that hard. My eyes roll for a second before screaming finds its way to my ears. I sit partially up and I am able to get at an angle where I can see my mother's brown hair being grabbed and pulled by my father. She's crying and trying to hit him but he slams her face down onto the table. When he lifts it back up he spits in her face. _

_"Bitch, are you tryin' to make my daughter fat!" He screams and goes to hit her face on the table again. She wails even louder than before and that is when I start to try and get up. I roll on my side and force myself up on my hands and knees. I scan the room and I spot the fire poker. I crawl as quickly as I can to the fireplace and grab it. I stood up as and faced my father. By this time he had dragged my mother to the floor and was kicking her._

_"Let her go!" I scream, but he doesn't hear me. He's too wrapped up in tormenting my mother. I walked behind him as quietly as possible and stabbed him in the leg. _

_"Ah!" He screamed and I stabbed him in the other leg. In pain he let go of my mother's hair and I grabbed her hand. I tried to pull her away but she had to come most of the way to me. As she crawled toward me he grabbed her leg and started to pull back. My mother took the fire poker and slapped him across the back of the skull he his head fell down and his grip on my mother's leg fell as his body went limp. _

_As we scrambled away from him we breathed heavily._

_I looked at my mother and saw her pretty face already start to bruise. Her nose looked crooked and blood was racing down her face and falling down on to her chin and onto the floor._

_She looked at me and like she was asking something. I stared at her not really knowing what it was that she expected of me. She used the back of her hand to wipe the blood from her face and went to walk over toward father but I grabbed her hand and stopped her. She looked back at me and I shook my head. She stared at me for a moment before she stopped and walked away. I watched her as she made her way up the stairs, when I heard the door close._

_I looked at the man that lay on the floor and I watched as his breathing seemed to become labored. I walked slowly over to him and narrowed my eyes slightly when I saw that he started to twitch slightly. I looked around to make sure that my mother was not near. I kicked him in the back of his skull, around the same area where I hit my head on the tile. I watched as his body returned to its limp state, and almost breathed a sigh of relief when he stopped moving. I walked back into the living room and waited by the bottom of the stairs, my mother would be down the stairs soon._

_I leaned against the beige wall and closed my eyes trying to rest. This was too much; it was not supposed to happen. Parents were supposed to love each other and their children. I was not supposed to be dealing with things like this, right? _

_As I stayed their trying to calm myself from the incident I felt my mind start to cloud with sleepiness. It was sudden when the thoughts stopped swirling around in my head._

_When I woke again I was being cradled in my mother's arms. Even though it appeared to be the dead of night I could tell that the room was a warm green with white trim. _

_I turned my head to the left and saw an alarm clock with bright red numbers glaring back at me, 2:32._

_I felt my mother's arm tighten around my waist and I turned to look at her again. He beautiful face was slightly swollen and her nose was packed with tissue. I closed my eyes and turned over on to my right side and moved myself closer to her before I went back to sleep._

_"Where is it!" I heard my mother's frantic voice as she was furiously searched through her bags that she had packed for us. I sat up from my bead and looked at the clock on the nightstand 1:43. _

_"Mom?" I questioned looking at her hunched over form._

_"We have to go back." She looking at me and biting her nails. "I was stupid to think that we could make it without him."_

_I watched as she shook slightly and rubbed the sides of her arms up her and down. I got of the bed and walked over to her and hugged her around her waist. I shook my head into her lower abdomen. She sighed as she squatted down to her knees and embracing me fully. _

_"I don't want to go back there, mommy." I said looking at her as tears started to fill my eyes. "We have to go away."_

_"We don't have money, baby." She said looking at me in the eye._

_"We have grandpa." I said looking at her intently. Even though I was young I was no fool. Grandpa had money, but father never allowed mother or I to go and see him. We never had a chance to ask for help._

_Mother looked broke at eye contact with me and stared at the ground. She nodded her head._

_"Alright, baby you're right."_

_"And it won't be for long." I said still looking at her when she lifted her head to make eye contact with me again. _

_"What do you mean?"_

_"When I'm older I'll take care of you!"_

Xxx

I looked at the ceiling fan that was spinning slowly in the kitchen. I didn't know how long that I had been sitting in front of the oven, but it felt like hours.

I felt my pocket start to vibrate and I pulled out my phone.

'Come upstairs' -Mom.

I sighed and stood from my seated to position. I stretched my tried legs. When I walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. She didn't respond but I walked in anyway. Her lights were out and she was lying on her back staring at the ceiling. She had changed into so gray sweats that looked terribly old and were riddled with tear stains.

"Mom?" I asked.

She didn't say anything but patted the bed next to her. I sighed and lay down next to her. I stared at the ceiling with her in silence.

"I don't want him to take you away." She croaked her voice heavy from the tears that she'd been crying. "You're the only thing that I have done in my life that I can be proud of."

"I'm not going anywhere, mom." I said simply.

"But the courts."

"Fuck'em."

"I'll have to call grandpa." She said solemnly. "We'll have to get a good lawyer."

"Do what you want." I said closing my eyes and breathing deeply. "My solution is much easier, though."

"What is it?"

"Finding him and killing him."

"We'd go to jail."

"Hire someone."

I felt my mother's green eyes bore in to the side of my face, but I didn't care. He deserved it. I can't remember a time in it when we were happy. The memory that I had earlier had not been the worse of the incident that we had, but it was the one where my mother decided to leave. That was one of the most important memories to me.

"I'll still call grandpa." She said sleepiness starting to feel her voice.

"And he'll agree with me." I said feeling my own tiredness starting to take over.

"Probably."

...So I'm not going to even make excuses for why I was away for so long, other than the fact that I was bombarded with work from my finals. On a side note, I'm so excited that my first year of collage is over ! But It seems like it went by to fast... Any way because I'm out I should be updating regularly (at least two or three chapters a month, hopefully). All right, I'll see you next time guys!


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